Listening to the complex timbre of Joni Mitchell’s voice, it’s hard to believe that the $50,000 hifi system I’m listening to is utilizing the OPPO HA-1 headphone amplifier as its front end. Headphone amp you say? It’s more than a headphone amplifier, but if the HA-1 were only a $1,199 headphone amplifier, it would still be a screaming good deal.

As the classic TV guy likes to say, “but wait, there’s more…” A lot more. The HA-1 also includes a fantastic DAC, capable of decoding every kind of file you might have on your computer or music server, including DSD and a full-function, fully balanced line preamplifier. Running a set of Cardas Clear balanced interconnects to the Nagra 300B power amplifier via the Alta Audio speakers that are also reviewed in this issue, I’m floored by how much music this compact, yet powerful, preamplifier lets through.

While I must confess to only being an armchair headphone enthusiast, I love the concept of the HA-1, because it’s the perfect segue to a great in-room system for the advanced headphone enthusiast. Start out with a system built around a pair of premium headphones (like OPPO’s own PM-1), a source for digital music files and add an amp and speakers when the mood strikes you.

Precious little the HA-1 can’t do

The tidy rear panel of the HA-1 contains one single-ended RCA and one balanced XLR input along with one of each for the output, but that’s only part of the story. In addition to the four hardwired digital inputs (Toslink, USB, SPDIF and AES/EBU) the HA-1 can accept signal via Bluetooth as well, taking advantage of the aptX codec, if your device supports it, making the HA-1 a handy streamer. And, for those of you living in Apple world, the front panel USB input is Apple MFi certified, so it will grab the digital bitstream from any iDevice, allowing a first-class combination between the two.

Removing the cover of the HA-1 reveals a tidy layout, densely packed with a massive power supply and a full class-A headphone amplifier built with discrete transistors, while the linestage uses high quality, balanced op amps. The front panel’s LCD readout can be configured in a number of different ways, either displaying inputs, volume level, a spectrum analyzer, or a pair of classic VU meters. Of course, the purists can turn the display off, but why would you want to? The display adds a nice touch of fun to the HA-1, and in homage to the ’70s, I left it in spectrum analyzer mode, always a conversation starter at a party.

As with OPPO’s physical disc players, the HA-1 has an app to control all major functions. While the included remote is sleek and easy to use, controlling the HA-1 via your phone is a no-brainer. Rather than implementing this via Bluetooth, as OPPO has done here, I’d love to see this work via your network, as Devialet has done. This is my only complaint with the HA-1, and it’s minimal, as I suspect most users will use it as a headphone amplifier instead of a control preamplifier, in which case the limited range of Bluetooth is more than adequate. You just can’t adjust the volume of the system when you’re soaking in the bathtub at present.

Let’s put some phones on, shall we?

As awesome as the HA-1 is as a preamplifier and DAC, it really is a headphone amplifier. Again, front panel functionality wins the day here, with an output for balanced and ¼” headphone cables, along with a USB socket, in case you’re listening to some of your favorite tunes via an iDevice.

A firm believer in class-A operation and discrete output stages, the HA-1 delivers great sound from every phone I plug in, from my reference Audeze LCD-3s to OPPO’s own PM-1, which was reviewed in Issue 64. As you might suspect, the HA-1 provides not only perfect synergy for OPPO’s headphone, but it proves equally exciting with everything else in my headphone arsenal. If you have a balanced cable for your favorite phones, there are a few more molecules of music to be revealed via that output, but it’s not a deal breaker either way; it’s more about compatibility. I applaud OPPO for incorporating both outputs neatly on the front panel.

The overall presentation is consistent, regardless of phones used, indicating a robust output stage. Even my old AKG 701s – which are notoriously tough to drive – and the HifiMan HE-1s don’t prove problematic loads to the HA-1. The HA-1 is as close to perfection as it gets for the price asked, with nary a glitch – it’s great across the spectrum, offering a smooth frequency response, excellent transient attack, and a solid, linear response at both extremes of the frequency spectrum.

The solid-state design provides another plus: virtually unmeasurable background noise, critical when listening to headphones. If there were ever a place you didn’t want noise creeping in, it’s here. Those listening to a lot of electronic and rock music might not notice, but classical lovers will really appreciate the dead silence provided by the HA-1.

Easy listening

Again, not being a headphone maniac, the highest compliment I can pay to the HA-1 (or any solid-state amplification product, for that matter) is that it is resolving, yet non-fatiguing.  The sonic signature is much closer to what I am used to with my reference Burmester and Pass Labs reference amplifiers than anything else I’ve auditioned. Where the competitors from Benchmark and Bryston have a slight bit of edge and glare in comparison, the HA-1 is smooth sailing all the way.

Tracking through some of my favorite classical pieces via digital recordings, the absence of background hiss makes this ultimately more pleasurable than switching to analog, even though the highest frequencies are smoother when rendered from an LP.

The HA-1 has more than enough resolution to easily tell the difference between analog and digital signals. Utilizing the Rega RP10 turntable in for review, via the Simaudio LP610 phonostage is particularly stunning. Keeping a bit more in line with what someone might spend on a system built around the HA-1, swapping the Rega/Sim combination for the Lounge Audio LCR phonostage and our Thorens TD-125 (lovingly restored by Vinyl Nirvana) is delectable.

Grooving on some of my favorite headphone records is a total blast with the HA-1. Going for big stereo separation, I can’t resist a ’60s and ’70s marathon of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Hawkwind and a little Cheech and Chong, to make it complete. Cheech and Chong’s classic Big Bambu is funnier than it’s ever been with all the little sound effects floating around the room. The massive three-dimensional soundstage rendered by the HA-1 is completely immersive, giving you that special presentation that you can rarely achieve with even the world’s best speakers.

Much like Porsche’s incredible Cayman S, the OPPO HA-1 offers balance as its highest virtue. Yes, there are a few headphone amplifiers providing more resolution or more bass extension and grip, yet they cost so much more – it’s tough to justify the stretch to any but the most maniacal of headphone listeners.  If you aren’t going to lay down the big bucks for something like the ALO Studio Six, or those massive 300B monoblocks from Woo Audio, I can’t see spending any more than the $1,199 price tag on the OPPO HA-1. It’s that good. OPPO could easily unbundle the HA-1, sell the DAC and pre as standalone components for about $2,000 each, and they would still be class leaders.

OPPO has always stood for solid engineering, great audio performance and smart packaging. The HA-1 headphone amplifier continues this tradition, and if anything, takes OPPO’s version of performance to an even higher standard than they have on their past award-winning components. I can’t suggest this component highly enough.  -Jeff Dorgay

Oppo HA-1

MSRP:  $1,199

www.oppodigital.com

Our publisher has been a Rega fan since the fateful day in the mid-’80s when we happened by our local dealer (Audio Emporium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) to find them opening a shipment of Planar 3 turntables.  As they lifted a bright, fluorescent green table out, the sales guy quipped, “What idiot would buy a turntable in this color?”  Little did he know that’s been publisher Dorgay’s favorite color since age 6.  He solemnly replied, “I’m that idiot!” and we took that little British table back to his listening room and were subsequently blown away, being Technics SL-1200 guys at that moment in time, thinking there couldn’t possibly be anything better than direct drive.

Words like pace and timing weren’t even part of our vocabulary back then, but there was a ton of inner detail coming through those Magnepan MGII speakers that wasn’t there the day before, and to this day, both of us have always owned at least one Rega turntable.  For the record, my current reference is a P9 with Apheta cartridge, and it has served me well for some time now.

Evolution no. 10

Someone once said that an elephant is only a mouse built to military specifications, and on one level the same could be said for the P9 – you could think of it as a fully geeked-out P3.  The platter, drive mechanism, tonearm and power supply are all highly evolved versions of the basic Rega turntable.  For those of you that aren’t familiar, the tonearm on the earlier P3 and P9 shared the same basic casting, and now the new RP10 uses a highly refined version of the new casting for the RP3 (and is secured with the same red tape Rega has used for decades), yet the new RB2000 is completely handmade and finished to the highest of tolerances, as was the RB1000.

According to Rega, the RB2000 arm “is designed to have a minimum of mechanical joints while using the stiffest materials possible in all areas.”  Like its predecessor, the bearings are hand fitted and of highest quality, all handpicked for tolerance before insertion into the arm.

A new twist on the Rega platform, beginning with the RP3, is the mechanical brace: magnesium in the RP10, going between the tonearm mount and the turntable bearing, assuring maximum rigidity between these critical areas, while taking advantage of the new, skeletal plinth (further refined from the RP8 design) having seven times less mass than the original Planar 3.

An ex-automotive engineer, Rega principal Roy Gandy has always taken the advantage that less mass means more energy transferred from the record groove to the stylus tip, an opposite philosophy of the “more mass is better” approach embraced by some other manufacturers.  Gandy’s approach has always worked well, but in the past, the P3 and variations have always been accused of being somewhat lightweight in the lower register.  The former flagship P9 has always featured the liveliness that their tables have always been known for, with additional heft in the low frequencies.  Combined with a set-and-forget ethos, there’s no wonder the P9 has won the hearts (and ears) of so many music lovers that just want a fabulous turntable without the setup anxiety.

The race is on

So as much as we wanted this to be a standalone review, the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue – and on our Facebook inbox – has been, “How does the RP10 stack up to the P9?”  As the title of this review suggests, it is an evolutionary move.  Listening to the P9 and RP10 side by side easily shows the additional resolution present in the new table.

A speed check was the first test on our list, and utilizing the Feickert iPad app showed the RP10 to be dead-on for both 33 and 45 rpm speeds.  It’s still somewhat of an urban legend that Rega tables run “a bit fast” to provide a zippier sound.  In our experience, this just hasn’t been the case in the last 15 years or so, and the RP10 keeps them batting a thousand.  So, if you’ve had any internet-related anxiety about the speed of the RP10, forget about it.

Ease as always

Should you opt for the Apheta MC cartridge, which comes pre-installed (at least for US customers), it’s a winner on two counts.  The Sound Organisation, Rega’s US importer, sells the two as a package for $6,495, saving you almost a thousand bucks in the process – and they install the cartridge for you.  Even though this is super easy, because the Apheta features Rega’s three-bolt fastening, and as all Rega tables come from the factory optimized for correct VTA, the RP10 is possibly the only no-fuss, no-muss premium turntable.  All you need to do is set the tracking force to 1.75 grams and fiddle a little bit with the anti-skate if you feel so inclined.  If it takes you more than five minutes to play records on an RP10, you are overthinking it.

If the Apheta is not your bag, rest assured that there are a number of other great cartridges available that will provide excellent synergy with this table.  Here at TONE, we’ve used everything from the ZU Denon 103 cartridge all the way up to the $10,000 Lyra Atlas cartridge on both the P9 and RP10 with fantastic results.  You can read the Apheta review here[1] to get more of a feel for this cartridge, but for those not wanting to dig back, here’s a short synopsis:  The Apheta is a very fast, neutral cartridge with a lot of HF energy.  If you don’t have an MC phonostage capable of going down to somewhere between 25 and 50 ohms, the Apheta will make a poor showing and sound somewhat shrill.  Load it correctly and you will be rewarded with clean, detailed sound.

The P9 and the new RP10 are awesome for music lovers who want great sound without a fuss.  While I’ve listened to a lot of megabuck tables at the TONE studio, $5,000 is my sweet spot – and let’s be clear: I do not consider this the point of analog diminishing returns; however it is all the more I’m comfortable spending on a turntable.  So for me, personally, the RP10 gives me enough of a glimpse into the price-no-object tables for comfort.  Considering Rega has only raised the price $500 over the cost of the P9 speaks volumes for their manufacturing efficiencies.

More listening

As hinted at the beginning of this review, the RP10 does reveal more music throughout the range.  Transients are cleaner, the bass carries a bit more weight, and the high end is even crisper than before.  Regardless of program material chosen, the improvements made feel like going from ISO 200 to ISO 100 on your favorite digital camera (or film for those of you still embracing the medium).

Should you trade up from your trusty P9?  That’s a question only you can answer, and it will probably depend on what your dealer will give you for a trade-in and how wacky you’re feeling with the checkbook.  -Jerold O’Brien

Additional Listening

I’m probably more anxious than most people to finally get my hands on the RP10, as I saw the prototype of this turntable at Roy Gandy’s home about six years ago and it was fantastic back then.  You’ll either love or hate the skeletal design; I love it because it looks so un-Rega, but those of you wanting a more traditional-looking turntable can leave it in its full base.  Me, I’d rather see it in its naked glory and cast a few spotlights on it, letting the shadows fall where they may.

As Mr. O’Brien mentioned, this table, though more radical in design, is definitely evolutionary.  You won’t mistake the sound of the RP10 for an SME or Clearaudio table and that’s a good thing.  Most of the improvements to the tonearm and power supply are not easily seen from the outside, as is the second generation ceramic platter, but Rega tables are always more than the sum of their parts.

In my reference system through the Audio Research REF Phono 2SE, I noticed the same sonic improvements in the RP10/P9 comparison, but what I did notice on a more resolving reference system than Mr. O’Brien’s was that the RP10’s new arm and table design will accommodate an even better cartridge than the P9 could.  Where the Lyra Kleos was about the limit of what I’d mate with the P9, the RP10 could handle the Atlas.  I’m sure most RP10 customers aren’t going to drop $10k on a phono cartridge, but you could, and it can resolve more music than a Kleos will let through.  And that’s part of the magic with the RP10.  It’s a sleeper.

I’ve always enjoyed the Apheta with the P9 and now the RP10, but I found absolute bliss with my Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, offering a slightly warmer overall presentation than the Apheta.  Again, this will be decided by your ultimate sonic preferences and the RP10/Apheta combination is really tough to beat for the money.  Rega has hit a pretty interesting run with the RP10, as there are a lot of great turntables in the $10k–$15k range, as well as in the $2k–$3k range, but this price point is pretty wide open.

We could talk tech for hours, but do we want to?  Put a record on and relax.  Much like my P9, the RP10 has that extra amount of LF weight and drive (torque maybe?) that really makes this table a blast to listen to rock records with.  Going back to Deep Purple’s classic “Smoke on the Water” from their Made in Japan album was incredibly convincing when those famous chords were played.

Extended listening with a wide range of program material reveals a table that gets it right on so many levels.  Mounted on an SRA rack, there were no feedback issues, no matter how loud I played music, so the table’s design is working as it should.

Reflecting on my time with the RP10, I just wonder when Mr. Gandy and his crew will run out of ideas?  They remain fresh as ever, and I can’t believe that after more than 30 years, I’m just as smitten with Rega as I was the day I brought my first one home from the hifi store.  Now, can they just make it in lime green?  I’m happy to give the Rega RP10 one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2014.  -Jeff Dorgay

Rega RP10

MSRP:  $5,495 (without cartridge)  $6,495 with Apheta pre-installed (US Only)

www.soundorg.com (US distributor)

www.rega.co.uk (factory)

PERIPHERALS  (O’Brien)

The VK-3000SE from Delaware’s Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) is a vacuum-tube linestage and a solid-state amplifier rolled into one. The latter offers 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms and twice that into 4 ohms. For the preamp section, BAT utilizes a pair of Russian 6H30 valves, which are concealed inside the unit. Some refer to these military-grade tubes as “super tubes” for their longevity and durability; they’re also alleged to have a whopping 10,000-hour lifespan. In the unlikely event of a bad tube, BAT stands behind them with a one-year warranty. (The VK-3000SE itself comes with five-year warranty.) The unit weighs in at 50 pounds and the chassis measures 19 by 5.75 by 15.5 inches. It’s priced at $7,995, which is pretty reasonable considering the amp’s broad capabilities.

As you might guess by the company’s name, the VK-3000SE’s internal circuit topology accommodates a fully balanced signal. The back panel offers a combination of three single-ended RCA inputs, two balanced inputs and an RCA tape out. Metal speaker binding posts accommodate many connection options. Keep in mind that the posts are quite close together, so large speaker cables with spade connections like mine require some finagling.

In addition to the standard linestage capability of the preamp section, BAT offers a pre-installed MM/MC phonostage with the associated outboard inputs as a $1,000 upgrade option. Users have an option of a 48 or 55 dB gain, the latter being the default. Load-wise, the phono card is factory set at 47,000 ohms, but it can be adapted for other cartridges as needed. Users can make these changes themselves by removing the unit’s cover and following BAT’s instructions. The standard load works quite well with my cartridge, a Dynavector 17D3, so I didn’t make further adjustments.

Clean Design

The VK-3000SE offers a clean, elegant external design. Our sample unit sports an anodized black finish, but silver is also an option. The hefty, metal remote control has a similar finish. The chassis’ subtle curves give the amp a sleek, modern appearance. To help keep the unit cool, which is especially important given the hot tubes within, BAT utilizes a top panel with small ventilation slits at the outer edges and holes down the center in an hourglass shape.

Once powered up, the amp’s front-panel vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) shows the input choice and volume level. The font is large, blue, and very visible—it’s easy to read from my listening seat 9 feet away. For those who prefer darkness, the remote’s display button will variably dim or turn off the VFD.

A minimal number of small controls on the front panel disguise the versatility within. The visible buttons include power, mute, input, phase, mono and function, the latter of which allows access to an on-screen menu. And of course, there’s a beefy volume knob that goes from 0 to 140. According to Geoff Poore, BAT’s sales manager, the numbering scale represents a 70 db range, in half db increments. He goes on to mention “There are two other volume “scales” that can be used in the 3000SE: “DBM” and  “DBU”.  The unit comes with a more understandable (for consumers) “CNTS” (counts) scale.  Broadcast and recording facilities are more likely to use “DBM” (-70 to 0) or “DBU” (-50 to +20).  One may preset any of these different scales in the set-up with the “function” button while cycling through.  We are very proud of the sophistication and accuracy of the volume control in the 3000.”

When toggling through the input options, you’ll see that the VFD has them listed as CD, tape, aux and so on, though the owner can modify the labels. Relabeling the third input as “iPod” proves very easy. Once programmed in, the amp stores these labels in its memory and remembers them even if it’s powered down and unplugged.

The function button is similarly flexible; pressing it reveals several user-selectable options for the selected input. Users can adjust balance, phase, mono/stereo and display mode, and select fixed, relative and maximum volume to equalize input sources and to avoid an inadvertent sound blast. To exit the menu, just hold the function button for two seconds. Most of this functionality is also accessible via the remote.

Up and Running

Setup for the single-box unit is very straightforward—just connect sources and speakers and you are ready to rock. Pressing the power button puts the VK-3000SE into a muted tube-warm-up mode; after a minute or so, a quiet click indicates the amp is ready. Pressing the button again puts the unit into a low-power standby mode, with the tubes remaining engaged. Holding down the power button for a couple seconds shuts down the unit completely.

Testing both the single-ended and balanced connections with my DAC, I find that they sound similar but have some subtle differences. The XLR connections do offer a bit quieter background, providing a little more sonic detail and nuance, and the presentation is a little more up-front. If you have the option of balanced connections, they are the way to go.

Across the frequency spectrum, VK-3000SE leans a bit to the warmer side of neutral in my system. Pitch Black’s album Rude Mechanicals provides a helpful test. The bass presentation is more relaxed than punchy and the amp has no trouble making very low frequencies known, but they never overwhelm the mix.

Extremely revealing components have a tendency to make the listener wince when playing some female vocal recordings; pleasantly, the VK-3000SE does not. Throughout Sia’s cover of “I Go to Sleep,” vocal crescendos project little stridency, despite their power. Also, as I notice in the cymbal shimmers on other tracks, the amp has a slight tradeoff of sonic realism for a touch of veil, but a degree of euphony in some circumstances is welcome. Balanced connections prove more revealing, so users should experiment with interconnects to find the sonic balance that works best in their system.

The amp’s ability to portray both a vertical and horizontal soundstage is fantastic, regardless of source material. Music extends beyond the speakers to the extreme left and right and from floor to ceiling, though front-to-back layering is not a strong point. The VK-3000SE does make it easy to pick out individual elements of a song, but it’s not a fully convincing reproduction of a live performance when band members are scattered across the front and back of the stage.

Putting the phonostage through its paces, I soon find that there’s a lot to enjoy. Analog and digital sources have similar sonic signatures through this amp, but the phonostage offers a greater sense of ease and naturalness. Vocals, like those on Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush,” move forward in the soundstage, enhancing the VK-3000SE’s front-to-back presentation. Some of that benefit, of course, is due to the analog source, but the quality of the analog reproduction is strong evidence of the effort and quality that BAT put into the unit’s phono card. It would be a challenge to find a single-box phonostage of this quality for the amp’s $1,500 phono add-on. The VK-3000SE demonstrates the synergistic value of an integrated audio solution.

Final Score

While $8,000 is a substantial investment for any piece of audio gear, it’s important to frame this product in the context of what you get for that price. You could spend a lot more money for individual components that deliver greater sonic nuance, layering, and air around each musical element, as well as a more realistic-sounding reproduction of a live concert. Of course, with added components, an owner also needs to consider the cost of extra interconnects and power cords.

The VK-3000SE is both a great preamp and a great power amp, and with the optional (and fantastic) phonostage, it’s a versatile, compact, and great-sounding piece of gear. If each of its elements were sold as individual components, the combined price would certainly be higher than the cost of the single unit, and it would be tricky to find separates that complement each other this well.

Having plenty of power and multiple input options, the VK-3000SE offers a turnkey solution that will mate well with many sources and speaker types. With a five-year warranty backing it, this is a component you’re likely to enjoy for a long time, even as the other gear in your audio arsenal evolves around it.

Additional Listening

By Jeff Dorgay

Having been such a big fan of BAT gear over the years, I had to hand the main review over to Rob—partly to share the excitement of the brand (with which he’s had no experience) and to deliver a more impartial review. Firing up the VK-3000SE to perform break-in duties is like putting the keys in a Porsche 911, in the sense that everything is where I remember it and, regardless of vintage, the overall ride is similar—just as the dynamic sound of BAT is like taking an old friend for a test drive.

While BAT has made a name for itself based mostly on the reputation of its fine vacuum-tube gear, the company has always made great solid-state power amplifiers, which have not always received their fair share of (well-deserved) praise. I have always loved the combination of a solid-state power amplifier and a valve preamplifier, so the VK-3000SE is right up my alley.

As much fun as modestly powered tube amplifiers are, 35 watts per channel limits your speaker choices too much, in my opinion. But 150 wpc is just right for all but the most inefficient speakers. Everything at my disposal—from the 90-dB-per-watt KEF Blades to the 84-dB-per-watt Harbeth Compact 7s—proves a good match for this amplifier, with nothing running out of steam until I crank the volume to beyond brain-damage levels.

A side-by-side comparison to another favorite, the Simaudio MOON 600i, is enlightening. Both amplifiers are similarly priced (though the MOON does not include an onboard phonostage option), yet the MOON is all solid state. Those preferring a slightly more neutral, even a touch punchier sound and who don’t care about the phono might prefer the MOON. Personally, the VK-3000SE has that combination of solid-state grunt and a touch of tubey warmth in an ever-so-slight way that is not veiled, colored or slow.

The 6H30 is a very dynamic and powerful tube, sounding nothing like, say, a 12AX7. And BAT built its reputation around this tube, and the company implements it like no other. Whether you’re blasting AC/DC, Coltrane or Coldplay, this amplifier offers a lot of inner detail and timbral purity in spades.

As good as the onboard phonostage is, choosing it will ultimately be the limiting factor for the hardcore vinyl enthusiast. But again, it’s damn good for a thousand bucks. If you are primarily digital and just dabbling with LPs, it’s fine; grab your favorite $2,500 table/arm/cartridge combo and call it a day. However, if you’re more of an analog lover or plan on serious analog upgrades in the future, order your VK-3000SE without the phonostage and go for BAT’s awesome VK-P6 instead. (We will have that review shortly). You’ll be glad you spent the extra dough. The VK-P5 was a class leader and the P6 promises even more performance for around $3,500.

High-performance integrated amps continue to be popular for the audio and music lover who wants world-class performance without buying a rack full of components. The VK-3000SE is an excellent choice, should that be your cup of tea. This is certainly one I could retire with happily ever after.

VK-3000SE Integrated Amplifier

MSRP: $7,995 (plus $1,000 for the optional phono section)

Balanced Audio Technology

www.balanced.com

PERIPHERALS

Bouncing between St. Vincent’s current and last album, I can’t help but be in awe of the staying power of the vinyl record.  Thanks to the many manufacturers, like Simaudio, who have not only kept the faith, but continue to innovate and refine their designs, spinning records is better than ever in the year 2014 than it ever was.  Who knew?  Even better much of the technology in flagship designs is making its way down the food chain to more affordable designs like the MOON 610LP here.

We’ve been using the Simaudio MOON 810LP phonostage as a reference component for some time now, but at $13,000 is out of reach for a certain group of analog enthusiasts.  The $7,500 MOON 610LP, though not inexpensive, opens another door.   Comparing the 810LP and 610LP side by side reveals subtle yet profound differences and while the 810LP ultimately reveals more music than the 610LP; some may actually prefer the presentation of the 610LP.

A unified voice

First and foremost the 610LP has a similar, yet slightly softer voicing than the 810LP.   The more expensive MOON offers up more resolution on leading and trailing transients in a take no prisoners system, but some of your preference may come down to overall system tuning and associated components.  Going back and forth with the Lyra Titan i, I actually preferred the 610LP in my reference system, which is a few clicks to the warm side of neutral.  Those wanting every last molecule of resolution will prefer the 810LP, but the 610LP is no slouch.  Dare I say it, but the 610LP almost sounds a touch more “tube-like” in the same vein of my favorite solid-state preamps from Pass, Burmester, Robert Koda and Luxman.  Never slow or veiled, just a bit lusher than the 810LP, which struck us as one of the most neutral phonstages we’ve had the pleasure to audition.

Tracking through the recent Blue Note remasters and the recent Miles Davis discs from Mobile Fidelity are a perfect example of the 610LP at its finest. This phonostage creates a soundfield that is both extremely deep and wide, going well beyond the boundaries of my Dynaudio Eminence Platinum speakers, but the magic doesn’t stop here.  Where the 610LP mirrors the performance of it’s more expensive sibling is in it’s ability to render acoustic instruments naturally.

Switching from the Titan i to the more tonally neutral Atlas, it’s tough to tell these two phonostages apart through the critical midrange, especially with modest dynamic swings.  The cymbals at the beginning of Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Blue Collar” float in the air in front of my listening chair, feeling right spatially as well as feeling as if the drum kit is of a realistic size.  The 610LP does not exaggerate perspective, which can be fun for a short period of time wears on you after long listening sessions.

Quiet, quiet, quiet

Though the 610LP has a claimed signal to noise ratio of 93db, while the spec on the 810LP  is 95db, you’d be tough to tell them apart.  This phonostage is dead quiet.  Even the most delicate pieces of classical music, the noise floor is always in the recording, with tape hiss from the master coming through, not the electronics.  Personally, this is one of the true benefits of a great solid-state phonostage – the absence of noise.  While a number of tubed units can add a touch of palpability (wanted or unwanted) that the solid state units can’t match, they always seem to impart a bit of sporadic tube noise.

Depending on your system, this can go from barely audible to somewhat annoying.  Even more annoying is trying to rustle up a matching set of tubes for your phonostage that you love, only to find the tonality changed when it’s time to re-tube.  Another awesome reason to go solid-state; turn the 610LP on, leave it on and forget about it forever, unless you change cartridges and need to adjust gain and loading.  Personally, as much fun as tube rolling is, I enjoy the consistency of transistors – your mileage may vary.

If you haven’t sampled a top solid-state amplification component in a while, you will be surprised at how lifelike and natural the 610LP renders music without needing vacuum tubes.  The gap has been closing for years and Simaudio is one of the rare few that produces solid-state electronics that have no “sound” of their own.  If you desire the tonal flavor that comes with a vintage vacuum tube sound, that’s another story.

Mega adjustable

With 64 steps for resistive loading from 12.1 ohms to 47k, 16 steps for capacitive loading from 0pf to 470pf and 16 steps of gain adjustment from 40db to 70db, I can’t imagine a cartridge that the 610LP can’t handle.  I certainly had no issues with the cartridges at my disposal and appreciated the wide range of adjustability down at the lower end of the scale – critical with some of the Koetsus and especially the Rega Apheta, which mates incredibly well with the 610LP.  Ultra OCD analog lovers will appreciate the fine adjustments available, and again, the more resolving your system, the easier it will be to hear those fine adjustments.

As with the 810LP, all of the adjustments are via DIP switches on the underside of the unit, so this is not a phonostage for casual adjustment.  After living with both of these units for some time, I suggest putting your 610LP on a shelf with plenty of height, so you can prop it up and not have to disconnect it or remove it from the rack when making loading settings.

It’s worth mentioning that the 610LP makes an incredible moving magnet phonostage.  Though I’m guessing that most analog enthusiasts at this level will have probably graduated beyond the top MM carts (all in the $800 – $1,200 range), if you start your assault on top notch analog, you can start with the 610LP as an anchor and go up the scale on cartridges as your budget allows.  The 47k setting is a wonderful match for the Grado moving iron cartridges, which have a low output of .6mv, yet still require 47k loading.   For those in the audience with the Grado Statement and Statement 1, the 610LP is a perfect match for these cartridges.

The 610LP also offers balanced inputs as well as outputs. If you have a balanced tonearm cable for your turntable, take advantage of the fully balanced, differential circuit design of the 610LP.  Using identical Cardas clear tonearm cables, my impromptu listening panel always picked the balanced option as more open and dynamic.  We’re not talking a major delta here, but noticeable enough that even untrained listeners could pick it out, and again, the more resolving your system, the bigger difference it will make, especially if you have a fully balanced system.

Rounding out the package

For those not familiar with Simaudio, all engineering, design and assembly is done at their factory in Montreal, and like Boulder, they do all their chassis metalwork in house as well. The MOON 610LP is a member of their Evolution series, robustly built-both mechanically and electronically, as you would expect from a flagship component.

Lifting the lid reveals a massive power supply that Simaudio claims has more reserve power, is faster and quieter than an equivalent battery supply.  Going topless also reveals first-rate components throughout, and having been to the Sim factory (see issue 32) the care taken in machining chassis parts and physical assembly is some of the best our industry has to offer.  This is why Simaudio offers a ten year warranty on their products – very few of them ever go back home to the mother ship.

More power

You’ll notice a socket on the rear panel of the 610LP marked “power supply,” allowing you the option to take advantage of Simaudio’s 820S external power supply.  We have a review of the 820S in the works and while this massive power supply does extend the range of the 610LP in a mega system, most of you either don’t need it or would be better off stepping up to the 810.

However, because the ($8,000) 820S has outputs marked “analog power” and “digital power,” Those having either the 740P preamplifier, the 650D or 750D DAC/Transport would be well served to split the duty of the 820S between phonostage and one of these other components.

Simaudio’s MOON Evolution 610LP phonostage is a fantastic addition to an analog system, offering an incredibly high price to performance ratio for the analog enthusiast that wants a cost no object phonostage in a single turntable system without refinancing their home.

For all but the most obsessed, this will be the last phonostage you need to buy.  Very enthusiastically recommended.  -Jeff Dorgay

Simaudio MOON Evolution 610LP phonostage

MSRP: $7,500

www.simaudio.com

PERIPHERALS

For many audiophiles, their journey with electrostats began with the legendary Quad 57—but not mine. As someone who really likes to rock, I spurned the audiophile approach and preferred to rock the house with my Altec 19s and a big McIntosh power amplifier. When our publisher Jeff Dorgay was giddy as a school girl with his first pair of Magnepans (turning his back on his beloved Cerwin Vegas speakers driven by a Phase Linear 400), I remained steadfastly nonplussed: They did not rock. I was equally unimpressed by his brief bout with a pair of Rogers LS3/5As. Fortunately, that phase passed quickly.

But one evening, Jeff bribed me with a lot of beer for helping him move a pair of Acoustat 2 speakers into his listening room. Little did I know that my life was about to change. I rolled my eyes, thinking, “Here we go again, another lame pair of panel speakers.” And on initial power up, these relatively small panels that only had about an 83 dB sensitivity rating did not impress. However, two days later, after the ESL panels were fully charged, these little Acoustats rendered music in a very interesting way, with a clarity and presence that the Magnepans just couldn’t muster and a delicacy that I had not yet experienced. They still needed a lot of power to move some air, and when these speakers were replaced with the much bigger 2+2s, I finally “got” the ESL thing—and I’ve remained a lover of the style ever since. But I tended to prefer the 1+1s, partly because they always remind me of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Charity Begins at Home

Perhaps the best thing about having audiophile buddies, especially ones that have a bit of adult ADD, is that they can’t sit still for very long, meaning there are always great deals to be had if you wait long enough. Car enthusiasts seem to be that way too. And camera enthusiasts, but I digress…

While the model 2 always seemed a bit congested and lacking in ultimate focus, with the 2+2 a little bit too round on the bottom end, my goldilocks speaker has always been the 1+1. Essentially the 2 with the panels on top of each other, rather than side by side, the 1+1 creates sonic images like few other speakers can, even today, thanks to a panel width of about 9 inches and a floor-to-ceiling height.

Back in the 1990s, I had a set of 1+1s that I paired with Jeff’s old Audio Research D79, and it was a match made in heaven in my 11-by-14-foot room. The 1+1s even generated decent bass and, just to be sure, I bought a pair of Quad 57s just to compare—not even close! Yes, the Quad has a midrange purity that is arguably tough to beat, but for this guy, the much greater low-frequency response and dynamic range of the 1+1 make it a more interesting daily driver.

Back to the Future

Driving today’s 1+1s with a pair of 100-watt Pass Aleph monos, combined with an ARC SP-11, makes for a kick-ass vintage system on a reasonable budget. Borrowing a friend’s D-79 to pair with the 1+1s brings back great memories, with a bit more romance through the midband, but the class A Pass amps make for more control and more bass wallop (not to mention eliminating the need to track down suitable tubes).

The original Acoustat ESL panel is nearly indestructible, but the power supply/interfaces are starting to have issues, mainly due to expired capacitors, with most of these speakers now over 30 years old. Thanks to speakers’ straightforward design, those handy with a soldering iron can easily replace the capacitors, and while you’re at it, take out the cheesy internal wire and replace it with a bit of your favorite premium wire from Cardas or Kimber, for a little more zip in the transparency department.

Later-model examples featured interfaces with the coveted “medallion upgrade,” improved transformers that coupled the panel to your amplifier and were wired with Monster Cable inside. Those of you with these speakers will notice that they’ve turned a nice shade of green, which is a wonderful patina for a copper roof, but not the greatest thing for an audiophile speaker.

You can send your interfaces to Roy Esposito at Audio Haven for a full refurb for about $600 a pair. We went this route and it was money well spent. Roy is semi-retired and a great guy, so don’t pester him to hurry. Let the man do his thing in peace and quiet. About a month later, your Acoustats will sound better than new, and he works on all models.

Setup of these speakers is a breeze: Move them about 3 feet from your back wall and start with the speakers about 5 feet apart; move them farther apart in 6-inch increments until the stereo image falls apart; then move them slightly back toward the center; and play with a touch of toe-in until you achieve imaging perfection.

It’s worth noting that a little bit of room treatment goes a long way with the Acoustats. I’ve always achieved the best results with some absorption right at the first reflection point, and either absorption or diffusion directly behind the panels will yield a more precisely focused stereo image. If room treatments are not an option, try moving the speakers slightly farther out in the room, however you will sacrifice a bit of bass extension by doing so.

Getting Some

If you’re looking for an alternative to a pair of Quad ESLs, I can’t suggest a pair of Acoustats highly enough, regardless of whether you have modern or vintage electronics. Unlike my other favorite electrostat, the MartinLogan CLS, the Acoustats are a bit easier to drive with tube electronics, but you sacrifice some of the CLS’s ultimate resolving power.

A clean pair of Acoustat 1+1s, with either cream or black grille cloth, should set you back about $600 to $800. As the grille cloth (or socks, as they’re often called) is nearly impossible to find these days, try to find a pair that have not been physically damaged. Should yours be ravaged by age, dirt or even cigarette smoke, an overnight soak in the tub with a potent elixir of bleach and OxiClean followed by a spin in your washing machine’s gentle cycle will have the cloth looking much better. Experience has taught me to dry them in the fluff cycle only—you don’t want any heat. Even though the socks are made of a synthetic material, there’s no sense in taking the chance of shrinkage. Resist the urge to dye them a funky color—or not. The vintage look of these speakers is definitely part of their appeal. – Jerold O’Brien

The new F-TYPE is a seductive, capable addition to the Jaguar fleet. It delivers the raw, sensuous beauty of the E-Type from the 1960s and ’70s—considered by many, even the great Enzo Ferrari, to be one of the most beautifully shaped cars ever conceived—with 21st century performance and accouterments. Best of all, the F-TYPE sheds Jaguar’s 20th century reliability issues; the British manufacturer is a top performer in JD Power’s initial quality surveys.

With the F-TYPE, Jaguar has indeed produced a brilliant success. I have spent a lot of personal time with Jag’s retired S-Type—in both its 380 hp supercharged V-6 and 495 hp supercharged V-8 variants—and I found it to provide a highly enjoyable ride. For the automotive journalists assembled for the debut of the F-TYPE, the comparison between the new model and the S-Type polarized the group in terms of which car provides the ultimate setup. Both models weigh around 3,500 pounds, so these are big cats indeed, but they are so lithe that they hide their weight incredibly well.

Now it’s My Turn

Jaguar’s current ad campaign in the U.S. features the tagline, “Now it’s your turn,” with a fellow returning from a test drive and flipping the keys to the first person in a long line of people waiting to drive the car. Fortunately, Jaguar has plenty of cars available at this event—in both the 380 hp V-6 and 495 hp V-8 trim, and in a plethora of colors—so we don’t have to wait long. With a few of the cars on display in Firesand metallic (aka bright, shiny orange), I am assured that orange is indeed the new red. A surprisingly gorgeous variation on the classic British Racing Green, the trademark shade of the E-Typeis also available.

The new car is available in three trim levels: The base model, priced at $69,000, features a 340 hp supercharged V-6; the 380 hp V-6 Sport model, priced at $81,000; and the 495 hp V-8 Sport model, priced at $92,000. While this review should concentrate on the F-TYPE’s sophisticated Meridian sound system, the car’s active sport exhaust system, which essentially bypasses the mufflers briefly when you mash the throttle to the floor, uncovers a cacophony of enticing sound that is worth noting.

As the only audio writer in a crowd of automotive journalists, I am interested to hear their take on the car. Almost all of them favor the V-8 version, some claiming that 380 hp is just not enough—an interesting take, considering that many of these same journalists went bonkers over the 400 hp Porsche turbo about 15 years ago. It would seem that we remain corrupted by power, even in the day of $4.00-per-gallon gasoline in the U.S. and double that in Europe.

Not a 911

Throughout the course of the presentations, representatives from Jaguar repeatedly make comparisons between the F-TYPE and the Porsche 911. As a Porsche owner, I submit the F-TYPE is a wholly different car, more than deserving evaluation (and adoration) on a different level. The current 911 has become heavier and more posh over the years, especially in its latest iteration, with many core Porsche enthusiasts feeling it has become much more of a GT car in the process.

Where the 911 is a sports car with luxury aspirations, the F-Type is a luxury roadster that is highly sporty, if that makes any sense. Many of my acquaintances who own 911s lament the same thing—the car is rarely a big hit with wives or significant female friends. The F-Type, by contrast, strikes a perfect balance of personal luxury and coddling that the 911 can’t muster, yet the Jag’s claws come out in earnest the second you mash the gas pedal to the floor, proving that the car is indeed a sporty performer. Doing so clearly illustrates that the optional free-flowing exhaust on the test vehicle keeps the car very civil in tight traffic yet free to roar on the open highway.

And roar it does, the V-8 sounding more like a NASCAR engine at full song, encouraging inappropriate behavior and a major decrease in fuel consumption. As I pass a scowling Prius driver at full throttle, I casually glance at the “instantaneous mpg” figure on the Jag’s dashboard—it reads 5.3 mpg. But what an incredible way to dispose of fossil fuel.

In light of the conversations of those loving New York and hating Los Angeles, I love both coasts equally for different reasons. Similarly, if I had the cash, I’d have a 911 and an F-TYPE in my garage.

Just Posh Enough

The F-TYPE strikes a wonderful balance of cutting-edge design and fashion-forward styling, while achieving an exterior look that I suspect will be as timeless as that of the E-Type. I doubt this will be a car that long-term owners will ever tire of looking at. The only question mark is will all the hardware and software under the bonnet be supported 40 years from now? While the E-Type had a reputation for being somewhat unreliable, it can still be repaired today.

Automotive design aside, the star performer here is the optional 770-watt Meridian audio system. The 380-watt standard system is by no means rubbish, but it can’t be played as loud as the optional system. In real life, this means you can only blast Megadeth up to about 35 mph before road noise takes over, but with the bigger 13-speaker Meridian system, you can still rock the casbah at about 60 mph.

This is exactly what I did, using the title track of Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction as my first test. Derived from Meridian’s system in the Range Rover Evoque (reviewed in issue 45), this audio system is optimized and custom-tuned specifically for the F-TYPE.

Meridian’s DSP (digital signal processing) experience works wonders here. The sound is dynamic, engaging and enveloping, even with the car’s top down and the throttle at a moderate position. But when you mash the throttle, forget about it. Top-down motoring and high-fidelity listening are two great tastes that don’t always taste great together. No offense to my friends at Meridian, but the F-TYPE is just too damn fun to drive fast with the top down to care about the audio system.

Jaguar has done a marvelous job with noise control on the soft top, so top-up motoring is highly enjoyable, making the F-TYPE almost as quiet as a fixed-roof car. This is when you can truly enjoy the marvel of the Meridian system. The cabin is quiet enough to listen to classical music in a meaningful way. When tracking through Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, I find myself easily swept into the grandeur of the piece, able to enjoy the quiet bits almost as much as I do in my home system, with precious little road noise creeping in. The soundstage is big, bold and very dynamic, reproducing the loudest kettledrums with authority and then seamlessly transitioning back to the moderate oboe passages. Rifling through a set of Blue Note XRCDs and a fair share of solo female and male vocalists proves equally compelling, with an excellent degree of stereo imaging throughout the front cabin—which, in the Jag, feels more like a large mobile set of headphones, while the system in the Range Rover Evoque provides a more cavernous experience.

Bottom line, the $1,200 for the upgrade to the top Meridian system is a pittance in terms of the total sticker price. And if you love music, I guarantee you will enjoy this car so much more with the Meridian system installed that you will quickly forget about the extra dough. It is wonderful to see Meridian doing its part to make a highly enjoyable sports car that much more enjoyable with a sound system worthy of the Jaguar marque. – Jeff Dorgay

www.jaguarusa.com

www.meridian-audio.com

As much fun as it was zooming around in the Jaguar F-Type—which appeared on the cover of our last issue and which is also equipped with a magnificent audio system from Meridian—the visceral experience of driving with the top and gas pedal down made it difficult to concentrate on anything but the sound of the engine. For this writer, the roar of a big V-8 always trumps whatever tunes are playing.

But the new Range Rover Sport is an entirely different animal. With a cockpit nearly as quiet as that of a Bentley, the Sport makes for the perfect spot to take advantage of what the Meridian system can deliver. It’s a $1,950 option that you should not be without.

Joining some of motoring’s most noteworthy journalists, we sit through a presentation that an outsider might think is comprised of a bunch of unlikely tourists being pitched on the idea of vacation time-shares. It’s awfully quiet in the room as Range Rover’s best and brightest share all the techie bits about what makes this new Sport model even more Range Rover-y. They also make a point to tell us that the Sport is backordered for months—which seems to impress the highly enthusiastic audience.

The design brief concentrates on the Sport’s ability to deliver more off-road capability than Range Rover loyalists might be used to, as well as more boulevard-friendly cruising abilities for those pursuing more civil driving (i.e. Kim Kardashian and the country-club crowd). The new Sport is nearly 800 pounds lighter than the model it replaces, which becomes immediately apparent at the gas pump. Friends with the departing model tell me that they struggle to get 12 mpg; the new model will deliver close to 20 mpg in mixed driving environments—a major improvement.

But this enhanced performance is not just due to weight loss; it also comes from higher efficiency in all areas, from the engine management to the new and improved transmission, combined with better software controlling the drivetrain.

Just Get the V-8

While I truly preferred the supercharged V-6 power plant in the Jaguar F-Type—feeling that it was more lithe overall and hardly worth the gas-mileage penalty for the 0.5-second quicker 0-to-60-mph time of the V-8 version—the exact opposite is true with the Range Rover Sport. The 1-to-2-mpg penalty you’ll pay for the big motor is a small price to pay for the posh feel that accompanies it. The 6-cylinder car feels fine at cruising speed, but when it’s necessary to overtake the car next to you, the weaker engine’s struggle is apparent in the cabin, feeling somewhat labored, whereas the V-8 version jumps ahead effortlessly.

And while the extra horsepower of the V-8 only shaves about 0.5 seconds from the 0-to-60 time in the Jag, it delivers a nearly 2-second quicker time in the Range Rover. Again, it’s more about the way the power is delivered than the power itself. You never think about the engine in the V-8 model, as it should be in a luxury ride like this.

Both the V-6 and V-8 engines are based on the ones used in the Jaguar, yet in the Range Rover they are tuned more for maximum torque and a broader response curve, which benefits a wider range of driving experiences. You aren’t going to be burning rubber when the tires are knee-deep in mud anyway—what you want is smooth, torque-heavy power delivery so you can leap out of the slimy spots with ease. Yet, where the V-6 feels fine most of the time, when you put the pedal down, you still feel the engine. By comparison, the V-8 has an effortlessness of power delivery that just seems oh so much more in keeping with the sporty ethos.

That’s what the Range Rover Sport delivers: No matter how steep a hill we chose to climb or how slippery the conditions, this damn thing does not get stuck—ever. As a neophyte to off-roading (though I’ve ridden my share of dirt bikes through hellish conditions), I’m flabbergasted at the capabilities of this 5000-pound vehicle, which can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds flat—something that the Porsche Boxster in my garage cannot accomplish.

If there was ever a vehicle that can do damn near everything, the Range Rover Sport is it. Now, if we could only have the 35-mpg turbo diesel model that our European neighbors enjoy…

The Ultimate Mobile Concert Hall

Thanks to 1,700 watts and 29 speakers, all tailored to the Range Rover’s interior environment, there is no better way to take the music to the street, or wherever. Most of our test vehicles have the standard Meridian system, which is no slouch, and adds $1,995 to the sticker. For all but the most die-hard music fans, this should suffice, but if you want to rock while you’re rolling, you need the top-of-the-line Meridian Signature Audio Enhancement Package, which adds $4,995 to the MSRP—a small price to pay to be a major player.

And rock it does. Thanks to all of the DSP modeling performed by Meridian, an expert in this technology, each one of those 29 speakers is custom tuned to the Sport’s luxurious cabin. Cranking up the new Nine Inch Nails album Hesitation Marks conveys the sheer industrial energy present on this disc, and even at near maximum volume, nothing in the Sport’s cabin rattles or makes any kind of mechanical noise.

Next up, it’s classic Scorpions—Love at First Sting. It might be a little bit out of character for this proper British vehicle to be blasting “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” but again the Meridian system delivers the goods, providing maximum SPL and minimum distortion. Seriously, this system can generate major sound pressure, so we’ll leave it up to you to establish your own definitions of reasonable and prudent while behind the wheel.

Because this is a surround-sound setup, those with 5.1-channel DVD-Audio discs can take full advantage of that functionality. The 1990s classic Toy Matinee is a ton of fun on this system, with vocals seeming to come up from between the front seats and with sprinkles of synthesizer fills coming from all over the cabin—brilliant!

You Know You Want It

I come away spoiled from my time spent with the Range Rover Sport equipped with the Meridian sound system—any other SUV now disappoints. I’ve driven them all and they pale in comparison. Nothing else has the versatility, the reputation or the panache. Granted, the Range Rover Sport may not be for everyone, but if I were writing a check for seventy large, this would be in my driveway in a heartbeat.  – Jeff Dorgay

www.rangerover.com

www.meridian-audio.com

The current, very limited crop of all-electric cars faces some mainstream acceptance, but BMW’s latest effort proves that progress is indeed being made. Promised to be in U.S. showrooms by May, the i3 SUV is already traveling European roads, and carries an entry-level price of about $41,000 (topping out at about $50K, depending on equipment and configuration).

The i3 is available with three levels of accouterment: The Mega, Giga and Tera World models can each be ordered completely electric, offering 80 to120 miles of range, and with a built-in “range extender,” which features an onboard gas-powered generator to augment the charge of the batteries, rather than using an engine configuration that switches between electric and combustion operation like most hybrid designs. This option adds about 300 pounds to the car and $4,000 to its price tag, while extending the range to beyond 200 miles.

Mission Impossible Meets ’80s Euro Design

Remember those goofy-looking European automobiles from the Miami Vice era, with their monochromatic paint jobs and odd interior surfaces? The i3 isn’t quite as bad as a 1980 Porsche 928, with its pop art, checkerboard seats, but it’s close. While the i3 utilizes a fair amount of carbon fiber throughout, there is some wacky recycled plastic in the driver’s cabin that wouldn’t even pass muster in a Kia.

Though BMW’s famous 3-series sedan is the epitome of ergonomic perfection, the i3 features a display screen that is about the size of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 tablet, hidden behind the steering wheel. Unfortunately, this small screen houses the speedometer and other related information, while the other LED panel (which is twice as big and displays geeky car function information) is in the middle of the dash in plain view. Though this is from the same company that gave us iDrive, it seems highly counterintuitive. The transmission control is equally tough to use and figure out, and it’s stuck on the right steering wheel stalk.

Drives Like a Dream(y) Golf Cart

Hybrid-car owners are familiar with dead silence at a standstill, but fossil-fuel fans will be surprised at the lack of engine sound when you push the go button on the i3’s dash. It doesn’t get much better when you press the go pedal. Though the i3 is very torque (scooting to 60 mph in 7 seconds), the lack of engine sound and gearbox action is somewhat unnerving. Perhaps the salesperson at the dealer summed it up best: “The i3 is very efficient, but soulless,” which is not necessarily what you want from the world’s ultimate driving machine. Though for owners making short hops, the i3 might be a pretty cool and certainly novel way to visit your favorite barista.

To Be Green or Not to Be

Here in the U.S., the dilemma we face is whether to be green (albeit at a premium price) or to enjoy driving excitement. The similarly priced BMW X1 SUV has a wonderful 3-liter, twin-turbo six-cylinder engine, but it only gets about 20 mpg. The i3, on the other hand, achieves the equivalent of about 110 mpg, when considering the amount of electricity required to keep it running.

However, the deal-breaker for this writer is the price penalty for going electric. My local BMW dealer was quoting about $725 per month on a four-year lease—ouch! Granted, you get a $7,500 federal tax credit when purchasing a car as efficient as the i3, and some states offer additional local tax credits, but when you can lease a loaded 328d (with a nearly 1000-mile range) for about $475 per month, pushing the eco button will give many prospective owners pause. An even more intriguing and more apples-to-apple comparison comes in the form of BMW’s X1 SAV (Sport Activity Vehicle), which features a twin-turbo four-cylinder engine that can achieve mileage in the mid 30s and can be leased for under $400 per month.

It’s a shame that BMW and others won’t step up to the plate and offer some incentive beyond a federal tax credit to encourage early adopters of this technology. But for now, while it’s close, the BMW i3 still misses the mark. – Jeff Dorgay

www.bmw.com

I fell in love with New Zealand after visiting the country a few years back. The people are some of the friendliest I’ve encountered, the diverse landscape is beautiful beyond expectation, and the local wine is dazzling. New Zealand is also home to the Plinius headquarters, located in Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island.

Aside from the Koru phonostage, the now-retired 8100 and an 8150 integrated amps were the only Plinius products I’d spent much time with. I remain impressed with the power and finesse that the Plinius gear provides. Although these amps are fully solid state and display tuneful bass punch, their slightly warm sound reminds me of tube equipment. Two close friends still use those very units as the hubs in their respective systems, and problems have never arisen despite daily use. Not too many companies commit to a 5-year owner warranty like Plinius’s—which speaks volumes of the confidence that the company has in its engineering ability and the build quality of its products. Based on my personal experience, I have no doubt that the Koru lives up to that standard.

Red or White?

As with Plinius’s integrated amps, the new Koru phonostage is solid state and a tribute to the legacy of Plinius phonostages, which began in the 1980s. Physically, the Koru maintains the beautiful simplicity of its predecessors but with modern improvements. Rather than a traditional flat faceplate, the Koru uses a seamless piece of thick, brushed aluminum with curved corners that wraps around the front from either side, giving the unit a sleek look that matches the current Plinius lineup. While our review unit sports a silver faceplate, owners can also choose anodized black. Other than the Plinuis logo milled out of the front and a tiny blue LED power indicator, the front is bare.

Popping the Cork and Letting It Breathe

At 3.5 inches high, 17.75 inches wide, and 15.75 inches deep, and weighing in at 12 pounds, the Koru slides easily into most audio racks. And because the side panels terminate at the back in a looped metal handle, the unit is easy to move without scratching it or even getting fingerprints on it that would taint its simple beauty.

An above view of the Koru with the hood up hints at the Plinius design approach. A division in the top panel indicates a two-chassis internal structure. The power section is separated from the delicate phono section to reduce potential interference between the two sides, which results is very quiet operation.

Typical of phonostages, the rear panel is simple and straightforward: a hefty power switch, grounding connector, and a set of gold-plated RCA inputs. Outputs include RCA and balanced connections.

The Koru also offers a wide variety of controls to optimize it for your turntable and cartridge. Using DIP switches on the back panel, you can set cartridge load to one of eight steps from 22 to 47K ohms and gain settings from 50 to 66 dB. With all this versatility, any cartridge should find a good match with the Koru, and it’s fun to experiment with the various settings.

Plinius recommends a full 24-hour warm-up for the Koru to sound its best, leaving it in standby mode all the time so it remains at the ready, and giving it plenty of space to remain cool. Our test sample remains on an open-air shelf and has been consistently powered up since its arrival a few weeks ago. Surprisingly, even after all that time, the Koru seems barely warm.

Taste Test

When using a piece of new equipment, the first few songs usually prove revelatory. Compared to my daily reference system, the Koru sounds neutral and organic, with perhaps a touch of forgiving warmth. Vinyl has its inherent snaps and pops, but through the Koru, even older records with many hours of play on them sound their best. The Koru reveals all that my old pressing of K.D. Lang’s Ingénue has to offer. The powerful highs of “Wash Me Clean” are free from harsh edges; grace, nuance and delicacy are all that remain.

The new pressing of Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle sounds extremely convincing through the Koru, both in terms of the intricate instrumentation and the melancholy vocals. Similarly, on Ben Harper’s “Alone,” the snare drum and triangle strikes remain easy to discern and offer very convincing presence and decay. Plinius manages to capture the perfect balance between neutral sonics and reigned-in euphony. The combination is beguiling.

Portishead’s Live in New York via the Koru illustrates the Koru’s ability to recreate live music. Cheers and applause come through clearly in the rear soundstage to contrast the upfront vocals, which extend beyond the plane of the loudspeakers. Similarly, through the Plinius, Ray LaMontagne’s Till the Sun Turns Black displays details in the left and right extremes of the perceived audio picture, with the piano notes floating in from the periphery creating an immersive experience for the listener.

Jasha Heifetz’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 in A proves revelatory. It appears that the engineer of this older (but very good) RCA Red Seal recording placed the microphones extremely close to the violin. I’m surprised Heifetz had enough room left to wield the bow! The Koru creates a very plausible illusion of standing right next to Heifetz during the recording session. The combination of the recording, this pressing, and the Koru’s delivery extracts every nuanced stroke of the bow, with realistic detail retrieval and overall presentation, including a degree of inherent stridency from the violin, which the phonostage simultaneously tames a bit. That’s not to imply that the Koru truncates higher frequencies, or any other frequencies for that matter; instead, it manages to give the best of what it’s given back to the listener. Ultimately, the Koru is like a front-row seat, without somebody in the back row disturbing the concert with the occasional cough.

It’s a challenge to find the Koru’s shortcomings, especially at this price point. If anything, I will say that, while the bass delivered is very tuneful, on some tracks there seems to be a bit of bass accentuation—a slight bloat compared to the low-end portrayal I’m accustomed to. Experimenting with the various power cords and interconnects I have on hand, I’m able to fairly easily tweak the bass response back to neutral—a reminder of how important system synergy can be, just like pairing a great wine with the right food. The Koru is a treat on its own, but complementary peripheral pairings will reward you with even more wonderful sound.

Another Great Vintage?

The biggest question is whether or not the $3,900 that the Koru will cost you is commensurate with the quality you expect at that price point. It is guaranteed to provide years of reliable playback (so says a decade-long warranty). For those seeking a bit of purchase justification, think of it this way: that cost represents about $33 dollars a month for 10 years and what you get is worry-free performance for the duration—and beyond. I’m just sayin‘…

Is the Koru right for you? For those seeking a great phonostage as a partner for their turntable, do yourself a favor and put the Plinius Koru on your audition list. It offers fantastic sound, durablility, and a great brand behind it—now just to find a wine to pair with it.

-Rob Johnson

Additional Listening (and a few more pairings)

By Jeff Dorgay

Running the Koru through its paces with a bit wider gamut of phono cartridges still proves it more than worthy of the price asked. With such a void in phonostages between about $2,500 and $12,000, the Koru is the ticket for the analog enthusiast who wants a substantial helping of what world-class units offer but who only has one turntable and cartridge.

Like the rest of the Plinius gear we’ve sampled, the Koru offers understated elegance in terms of look and sound. I find it particularly suited to cartridges with outputs around 0.5 mV. Wonderful synergy is achieved with the $2,200 Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, $3,000 Grado Statement 1, and $3,000 Lyra Kleos. Thanks to its 22- and 47-ohm loading settings, the Koru is a killer match with Rega’s Apheta MC cartridge.

Those wanting vacuum-tube romance will be somewhat disappointed with the Koru; however, those after a more accurate sound and low background noise will be delighted. I’m highly impressed with how quiet the Koru is, as well with how quickly it responds to musical transients. Plus, you’ll never have to screw around with tube matching/rolling.

The more time I spend in the analog game, the more I appreciate a great solid-state phonostage that you can set, forget and enjoy. The Plinius’ Koru is one of the best one I’ve sampled at this price.

Plinius Koru Phonostage

MSRP: $3,900

www.pliniusaudio.com

PERIPHERALS

Digital Source

JRiver Media Center 15, Light Harmonic DaVinci DAC, Audio Research CD3 Mk2

Analog Source

SME 10 with 10 tonearm and Dynavector 17D3 cartridge

Preamplifer

Coffman Labs G1-A

Amplifier

Mark Levinson No. 335

Cables

Jena Labs interconnects, phono interface, USB cable, and Twin 15 speaker cable

Power

Running Springs Audio Haley, RSA/Cardas Mongoose and Golden power cords, Shunyata Python Alpha power cord

Accessories

ASC Tube Traps, Cathedral Sound room-dampening panels, Mapleshade Samson racks, Coffman Labs footers

Audeze pronounces their name “Odd-eh-zee.” Now when seeing the same, I find it hard not to reflect back on my high school English classes and studying stories from ancient Greek mythology. Other than Homer’s Iliad, the Odyssey may be the best-known story which chronicles the perilous journey of Odysseus and his efforts to return home after the Trojan War. (Yes, the Trojan Horse was his idea.) I’ve read that Odysseus means “trouble” in Greek.  How ironic. Every time I hear a pair of Audeze headphones I find myself in trouble, wanting to reach into my wallet to buy a pair.

After releasing the highly successful LCD-2 and LCD-3 open-back headphones, Audeze refuses to rest on its laurels. Their latest headphone incarnations, the LCD-X series, include both an open-back and a closed-back design dubbed the LCD-X and the LCD-XC respectively. We enjoyed the chance to hear the LCD-X, and with their other open-back models on hand, it’s a delight to hear them head-to-head – literally.

Setting Sail

On arrival, the LCD-X comes in a black, foam-lined Pelican case, ready for travel and abuse while protecting the precious cargo within. For versatility, Audeze also includes two sets of 8′ (2.5m) headphone cables. One set is a balanced 4-pin to 2×4-pin mini XLR. The other cable is a single-ended version with 4 pins on the headphone end and a standard ¼” termination on the other.  Finally, a ¼” to mini-jack adapter leaves the listener wired for sound with any headphone amplifier on hand.

At 1.3 pounds (600 grams) the X is hefty indeed and there’s no mistaking the weight on one’s head. After an hour or two of listening, I’m generally ready to free my head from the velvet vise for a short break, but that’s a small tradeoff for its great sound. The wide headband and large, comfy earcups distribute that weight well and when you have them on, physical heft certainly yields to the delicate sonics.

Scylla and Charybdis

Audeze’s headphone designs are dangerously attractive indeed. Like the famous hazards Odysseus attempted to navigate, it’s difficult to avoid their pull. Although there is a generally similar appearance to the earlier headphone models, the LCD-X takes a departure from the familiar wood-laden earcups. The Xs offer anodized aluminum enclosures, with a choice of either black or grey rings around the ’cups. There’s also a choice of padding: either a black lambskin leather, or a non-leather microsuede. In either case, as with earlier headphone designs, the foam underneath gives the earcups a slight slope, canting them forward when worn and projecting the sonic image forward a bit. Throughout listening sessions, the ear pads proved generally comfortable.  I find the leather cups do get a little warm and tacky against the skin, so the microsuede may be the preference of some.  I realized also that trying to wear glasses at the same time as the LCD-Xs is an uncomfortable pairing, so these aren’t the best ’phones for those far-sighted folks like me who enjoy music while working on the computer.

Not fixing what’s not broken, LCD-X retains familiar design elements of planar magnetic transducers and Neodymium magnets as with the past headphone versions. The LCD-X headphones differ from their siblings through the use of a new transducer, though, made of a lighter and thinner material plus what Audeze dubs “Fazor” technology. The company claims these alternations manage the flow of sound through the headphone facilitating better imaging, a smoother frequency response, and greater frequency extension. Listening to the new cans, I see that Audeze doesn’t exaggerate. They also claim the capability of frequency response exceeding the 20Hz–20kHz range of normal human hearing, dropping down to 5Hz and with information transfer up to 50kHz. Without an elephant and a porpoise on hand, I’m not able to verify the extremes, but what does reside within my audible range proves magnificent.

Song of the Sirens

As with the other LCDs, bass is a strong attribute. I have not heard another open-back design that offers the depth, weight and punch that Audezes do. Percussion is portrayed marvelously, and these headphones can rock. I’m surprised by the level of heft these open backs produce. Only with custom IEMs have I heard the level of tangibility of drums interacting with my eardrums. Bass, snare, toms, tambourines and cymbals all have an extremely convincing level of impact, resonance and decay. In addition to jazz tracks, I tossed Electric Six’s “Fire” into the mix for fun. The song’s heft though the LCD-Xs is an absolute joy and completely immersive experience.  Green Day’s “St. Jimmy,” another favorite rock track, startled me to the point of a physical lurch when the first notes burst forth from silence. Nice!

These headphones are capable of great delicacy as well. Vocals sound incredible through the X. They strike the right balance between capturing every nuance while avoiding stridency and sibilance that often accompanies them. As with Shivaree’s “Who’s Got Trouble” the LCD-Xs reveal the sound and palpability of Ambrosia Parsley’s breath in anticipation of vocal passages. When the first note rings forth with clarity and refinement there’s certainly no disappointment.

With the LCD-2s the soundstage is well rendered, but as with the LCD-3, the LCD-X improves on this somewhat with better ability to project outward those recorded instruments panned to the far left and right. Sounds at the far edges of the soundstage wrap out and slightly behind the center plane of my head. Instruments are layered well in the X’s presentation and it’s easy to pick them out in the mix. Similarly, naturally (and artificially) created reverberation is quite evident as it reveals a sense of the original recording space.  Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College provides a good sense of the live performance, especially the applause, shouts and song requests from the audience as the stage mics capture them. Compared with my reference hifi system, the LCD-X makes the concert sound more like an intimate club setting rather than a larger concert space, but it’s no less convincing or enjoyable.

Suitors for the Ears

So how does the LCD-X compare with its siblings? In most meaningful ways, the LCD-X exceeds the very good LCD-2’s capability. The battle for the open-back Audeze kingdom rests with the LCD-3 and the LCD-X. Things get tricky comparing these two, because they are both wonderful and there’s far more similarity than difference.

Ultimately, it’s a slight, nuanced “flavor” change rather than one headphone being superior to the other.  Rather than go into a lot of detail about the LCD-3 which Jeff Dorgay reviewed here, [1] I’ll just focus on the small differences I hear between the two sets of cans.

In most of my test recordings, the LCD-X gives a slightly increased sense of palpability. Bass feels a touch more punchy too. Perhaps this is the result of their new Fazor technology. On the upside, there’s a great degree of connection to the music and a “live,” nimble sense to it. On some recordings it can be a little intense. The LCD-3s also give the listener an exciting, engaging musical experience with extended bass, but the tangible intensity is taken down one notch, and it’s easier to relax into the sound.

In parallel with the above characteristic, the X is slightly more revealing of recordings in general. Especially listening to digital recordings, that can imply both upsides and downsides depending on the quality of the recording. Those who prefer to have every musical detail revealed – or those like recording engineers who need to hear every detail – will love the X’s prowess.  By comparison, the 3s are a touch more forgiving and lean just slightly to the side of warmth. I find this most evident in female vocal passages or in some recordings of horns.

The last subtle difference is hard to describe and best offered as an analogy. Imagine that the music heard though each set of LCDs is filtered through a set of sunglasses. The X has a very neutral grey lens, and the 3 has a slightly rose-colored lens. Each LCD has its own way of portraying – and enhancing – all that comes through it. There’s no right answer. Depending on a listener’s musical selections, associated amplification, sources, and personal preferences, either headphone could find itself welcome in an existing system.

If Marooned…

On the very slim chance I’m shipwrecked and stranded like Odysseus, there are a few things I’d hate to be without. After chap stick, the top of that list is music, and a means with which to hear it. While my first love is the sonic experience from a full-sized stereo system, the sound and presentation of music with the Audeze LCD-X headphones is beguiling enough that it could serve as a worthy substitute. It’s a marvelous addition to their headphone lineup.

Pricing for the LCD-Xs is $1,699 placing it between its other open-back siblings, the LCD-2 and -3 costing $1,145 and $1,945 respectively. That’s certainly not cheap, but considering the X’s build quality and sonic value in comparison with a big iron system, think about it in the cost-context of a good set of speakers. You will need a good amplifier to get the most out of these headphones, so that should be factored into your budget at some point. With that and your favorite source, you have a very musically satisfying personal sound system.

If you are considering headphones in this price range, the LCD-3 and the LCD-X are enthusiastically recommended, and currently my favorite open backs. After many hours comparing the two, the X won over my ears with their punchy, highly resolving and neutral nature. The LCD-X sonics, for me, left little to be desired. I purchased the review sample as my open-back reference headphone and that’s the best compliment I can give.  –Rob Johnson

Additional Listening

It’s tough to pick a favorite between the LCD-3 and the LCD-X.  Both are incredibly compelling, and while I’d give the nod to the LCD-3 in ultimate smoothness, without sacrificing resolution, the LCD-X might be a better choice for those making their first foray into high dollar headphones.

We can argue to infinity about which presentation is more desirable, however these two fantastic phones are a lot like the Lyra Titan-i and the Atlas phono cartridges, or if you’re an old school analog photographer, Kodachrome and Ektachrome.  The LCD-X has a little more contrast, a little more edge sharpness if you will and the other one has a touch more ultimate resolution.

The ultimate decision will be determined by your listening taste and of course, your headphone amplifier.  Personally, I prefer the LCD-3 with solid state amplification and the LCD-X with my ALO Audio Studio Six.  But the bigger story, is that the LCD-X is more easily driven by a laptop, smartphone or iPad than either the LCD-2 or LCD-3, making it the perfect place to start assembling a mega quality personal audio system.  Grab a pair of LCD-X’s for now and add a big daddy headphone amp later as your enthusiasm and budget allows.

We are happy to make the LCD-X our choice for Product of the Year in the Personal Audio category.  It’s been exciting to watch Audeze grow and continue to expand their repertoire.

–Jeff Dorgay

Audeze LCD-X Headphones

MSRP: $1,699

www.audeze.com

Peripherals

Let’s get right to the point, Motown style, and put the hit on the first track.  The Studio Six from ALO Audio redefines what headphones are capable of delivering, from the least expensive to the most exotic cans in your collection.  Even the modest Grado SR-80is turn in a head turning, or perhaps head banging, performance when using the Studio Six to provide the signal.  And that’s immediately after powering it up, fresh out of the box.  About 50 hours later, it improves even further, with still more frequency extension, delicacy and low level detail available.

Yes, $5,000 is a lot of money for a headphone amplifier, but the Studio Six delivers a level of performance well beyond all of the headphone amplifiers in the $2,000 – $5,000 [1] range that we have auditioned.  Don’t give this one a listen unless you’re ready to plunk the gold card down on the table.  It will spoil you for anything else.  On the bright side, compared to what high-end two channel separates cost these days, with world class separates commanding five- and six-figure price tags, the Studio Six truly is a bargain, delivering the best your headphones are capable of.

To assure top quality source material, the $110,000 dCS Vivaldi digital player was used for digital files, and the AVID Acutus Reference SP turntable with TriPlanar tonearm and Lyra Atlas cartridge via the Indigo Qualia phonostage provided equally primo analog tracks, making it easy to get down to serious listening.

A wide range of music from reggae to classical, and everything in between was sampled to find out exactly where the rocks in the road are, or aren’t.  About 15 pairs of headphones from the Grado SR-80i to the Audeze LCD 3 put the Studio Six though its paces, along with the notoriously difficult to drive HE-6 phones from HiFi Man.  Nothing in our headphone collection presents a challenge to the Studio Six, which delivers stellar performance with whatever is plugged in.

Out of the can

“Natural” describes the Studio Six in one word. I am typically not a headphone listener (though at last glance I do have 15 pairs of reference headphones) because of that cooped up, claustrophobic feeling – not unlike putting on a motorcycle helmet – that always keeps me away from this experience.  Yet from first listen, I’ve been hooked on the Studio Six; this was so much more exciting than my previous headphone experiences that it was easy to just get into the music.  The funky intro to Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” from the SuperFly sound track, with bongos floating around the soundstage, punctuated with horns, guitar and fiery cymbal shots is truly mind expanding.  This amplifier becomes addicting as the listening sessions continue, often late into the evening.

Just as I would suggest that serious analog listeners have a solid foundation and purchase the best turntable and tonearm they could possibly afford, upgrading the phono cartridge as their budget allows, I submit you do the same with your headphone collection – buy a great amp first as the rock to your system.  I’d rather listen to the Studio Six with a pair of budget Sennheiser HD 414s than my Audeze LCD 3s with a modest amp.

Though about 20 pairs of phones were plugged into the Studio Six during the review period, every one gave its top performance in comparison to every other amplifier we’ve had the privilege to use.  Where many headphone amplifiers, both tube and solid state, tend to favor one type of headphone design, the Studio Six delivers top fidelity with everything.  Phones you thought previously tough to drive (the HE-6, some AKG models, etc.) sail through without issue.

Thanks to the four output jacks on the front panel, you can even drive them all at once.  A group listening session, using the AKG-701, HE-6 and LCD-3 all playing simultaneously proved effortless for the Studio Six, with no difference in sound quality as the other phones were plugged in.  Truly amazing.

It’s all in the details

Listening to a six-figure reference system on a regular basis spoils one for low level resolution, and while often donning a pair of headphones reveals an additional level of low level resolution, it does so at losing the glorious sense of soundstage and three dimensionality that a big pair of speakers in a big room provides.  Utilizing the Studio Six goes further to convince me that I’m doing just that, without resorting to any kind of channel crossfeed circuitry that is starting to become commonplace with other headphone amplifiers.

This is a great tube amplifier, executed to perfection.  The amplifier delivers one watt of pure SET power, with output transformers capable of delivering about 20 watts of power, had they been utilized in a standard amplifier circuit.  Who knows, maybe ALO will venture into another direction in the future?  A low powered amplifier based on this circuit would be equally enticing.

Revisiting well-worn tracks continuously delivers previously unnoticed gold.  Berlin’s “Sex (I’m A…)” is a treat; the additional layers of cool synthesizer and vocal information now on tap combined with a seemingly endless amount of decay gets you further into the music than you might have thought possible – and makes it so easy to forget you actually have headphones on, that you might not notice until you get up and realize you are, in fact, tethered.  This is headphone listening at its finest.

Regardless of whether you are listening to Daft Punk or Miles Davis, your music collection becomes a new world again, and this is what makes the Studio Six worth the price asked.  Vocals take on incredible clarity, and the massive soundstage now available goes well beyond the normal confines of the head space.  Richard Thompson’s vocals on The Old Kit Bag come through solidly placed out in front of the listening position, with backing vocals creeping in softly from the outside edges of the soundstage, just behind your head, while the drum and bass tracks remain firmly anchored – those worshiping the concept of pace and timing will have found a new haven with this amplifier.

The Studio Six not only provides big bass, essential to those listening to a steadier diet of electronic music, but a level of control and texture, again usually limited to high-end speaker systems driven by stellar electronics.  The amount of control provided is impressive, whether listening to deep synth bass or acoustic.  You may actually hear for the first time what your phones are truly capable of.  Again, we were constantly surprised at how much bass detail even modest phones could provide with the Studio Six driving them.  There’s plenty of speed on tap, too – the title track of Stanley Clarke’s If This Bass Could Only Talk features bass runs that are quicker than most lead guitar players, punctuated by Gregory Hines tap dancing in the background as percussion.  Both are reproduced with stunning accuracy.

Last, the sheer dynamic range of this amplifier goes a long way in eliminating that last bit of sensation that you are listening to headphones instead of speakers, and is an area in which so many others fall short.  Again, because this headphone amplifier is built more like a power amplifier to drive loudspeakers, it has drive to spare.

Robustly designed to last a lifetime

As good as the Studio Six sounds, it looks like a premier audio component inside and out.  Precisely hand wired, with a combination of point-to-point and PCB topology, it follows in the tradition of classic gear from McIntosh and Marantz, with everything overbuilt.  Top quality parts are used throughout, with an impressive amount of good taste, paying homage to current and classic design cues.  The somewhat large, jeweled power lamp speaks old school, yet the rounded corners on the casework and the laser-cut volume and input knobs are firmly rooted in the 21^st century.

The complement of glowing tubes on deck make this a pleasure to look at as much as listen to, but again, it all follows function.  A 5AR4 tube rectifier and pair of OB2 gas regulators add additional delicacy to the presentation and provide an organic soft start function as well.  The amplifier circuit utilizes a 6SN7 driver tube, powering a pair of 6V6 output tubes.  While this tube will be more familiar to the guitar players in the audience, here it provides a level of drive and cleanliness, rather than the crunch that might normally be associated with it.  But the best news is that this tube is readily available, and at reasonable prices.  You could tube roll until your ADD gets the best of you, but rather than chase the rabbit, I suggest you just enjoy the Studio Six as it comes from the factory.

This attention to detail and numerous circuit revisions over the last two years before settling on the design you see here underline the commitment that went into this product.  When pestering ALO’s Ken Ball for a review sample for the last year, he would calmly say, “It’s almost there.”  The end result has been well worth the wait.

While not an issue for this headphone user, the lack of a balanced headphone output may raise an eyebrow for some.  For most, it should only be a matter of affixing a different cable to your favorite phones, as I did with my HE-6s.  I did not  consider this to be a shortcoming – the sound quality and incredibly low noise floor (actually, make that nonexistent noise floor) never had me wanting for a balanced option.

It’s made a headphone lover out of me.

I’ve always been lukewarm about headphone listening – until the Studio Six entered my reference system.  Completely floored by how much resolution and musical accuracy can be extracted from even the least expensive headphones, I’m convinced that these qualities make the Studio Six a true destination amplifier as the foundation of a headphone system that should never need replacement.

Its ability to drive every type of headphone also makes the Studio Six an incredibly versatile tool as a reference component, so expect to hear more about this landmark product in the issues to come as it will be my reference amplifier by which to evaluate all other personal audio gear.  -Jeff Dorgay

ALO Audio Studio Six

MSRP:  $5,000

www.aloaudio.com

Peripherals

A TONEAudio World Premier!

Many great bands and product designers have suffered the “sophomore slump,” stumbling after producing a great product or releasing a great album, with the follow-up never meeting the promise of the debut. The new, updated version of AURALiC’s premier headphone amplifier easily breaks through that barrier, building on the strengths of the original while adding significant upgrades throughout. The result is an incredibly liquid, musical headphone amplifier that will have you shaking your head, wondering if there really isn’t a vacuum tube or two under the hood.

Seriously, there isn’t. In the famed tradition of Mark Levinson, the Taurus features discrete Class-A gain and buffer stages that contribute heavily to the high dynamic range and low-noise sound of the Taurus MKII. A quick listen of the clunky piano on the White Stripes’ “Forever for Her (Is Over For Me)” reveals the immediacy that the Taurus can muster, responding to Jack White’s spastic playing with ease and painting a broad sonic picture of this fairly dense recording.

Switching program material to the jazzier side, with Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, the clarity and high-frequency smoothness of the Taurus makes it easy to listen to the whole album straight through. An edgier setup usually leads to bouts of audio ADD, but the Taurus lets me listen to album after album without glare or fatigue—and that is a wonderful thing.

The Taurus does not have the last bit of “reach out and touch it” that my reference ALO Studio Six does, thanks to its all vacuum-tube design, but the AURALiC does come damn close. And it is stunning in its own way, both for a solid-state design and for its much lower price tag of $1,899, compared to $4,900 for the ALO.

Inner and Outer Beauty

This solid-state design will appeal to those more predisposed to plug-and-play components. You’ll never have to replace tubes (or agonize over tube rolling). The Taurus is also tidy and compact, and it looks great in any setup. Those wanting an all-AURALiC high-performance headphone system would do well to consider the brand’s Vega digital audio processor. The Vega is equally impressive and matching in form factor. (We have a full review in process.)

I’ve been living with the AURALiC gear for a while now, and it’s purposeful, tidy appearance and high build quality brings Nagra to mind. The front panel is finely machined, with a semi-spherical volume control that feels as luxuriously damped as it looks. With so many new manufacturers missing this aspect of product design, it is refreshing to use a component that has such a pleasing aesthetic.

Around back is an equally concise layout, with balanced XLR and single ended RCA inputs and outputs—a nice touch that provides maximum flexibility. Listening duties were split between AURALiC’s own Vega digital processor, the Light Harmonic Da Vinci DAC and an AVID Volvere SP turntable with SME V tonearm and Lyra Kleos cartridge, via the Audio Research REF Phono 2SE.

Quickly Down to Business

Break-in time for the Taurus is brief. Slightly closed in at initial turn on, our test sample sounds its best after about two days of continuous play. As the Taurus’ power consumption is minimal, you can leave it on without suffering any eco-guilt.

Once the unit is fully stable, it provides a high-resolution, no-nonsense sound. Again, the comparison to the Studio Six comes to mind. Where the ALO amplifier offers a presentation that is ever so slightly on the warm side (never a bad thing in this reviewer’s notebook), much like my reference Pass monoblocks, the Taurus is slightly more natural, more like a Boulder component. The amps will appeal to different listeners for different reasons.

The Taurus gets high praise for having both single-ended and balanced outputs on the front panel, but even more for its ability to drive a wide range of headphones. This is one of the few amplifiers we’ve auditioned that can do this with ease.

For those not familiar with the HiFi MAN HE-6 headphones, they are a planar style with a difficult impedance curve—a tough load that most headphone amplifiers make sound mushy and uncontrolled when trying to drive them. The Taurus sails through, with its high-current, Class-A output stage providing enough grip and delicacy to showcase these premier phones at their finest. The Taurus even beats the HiFi MAN amplifier designed specifically for the HE-6 at its own game, revealing more music and a smoother, more delicate and more nuanced presentation.

Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine is full of small instrumental vocal effects and layered harmonies that put any system to the test, whether headphones or speakers are delivering the music. The title track is littered with violin and percussion riffs, all layered behind and in front of Apple’s quirky, breathy voice. The Taurus keeps everything locked in place with the proper amount of space and texture. The bell at the end of the track rings with perfect clarity, making any pair of headphones feel much larger than they are—a very cool effect, and one of the reasons many of us appreciate the presentation of a great pair of headphones via a high-performance amplifier.

Running the Gamut

Equally great results are on tap with all the other phones in my collection; there is nothing that the Taurus can’t drive with aplomb, making it a perfect reference amplifier for those with a large headphone collection (or for those considering expanding their current collection). My other reference phones, the Audeze LCD2s, work equally well with the Taurus, serving up a massive inner-head soundstage, with sound floating all around my head in a pleasantly trippy manner. Joni Mitchell’s “Talk to Me,” from the Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter album, illustrates this effect perfectly. Jaco Pastorius’ fluid bass line is firmly anchored, sounding as if emanating straight out of my cerebral cortex, while Mitchell’s vocals float in front of my head, with her guitar sounding otherworldly and mind-expanding.

While many headphone fanatics swear by balanced operation, and the Taurus offers it (thoughtfully, I might add), the single-ended performance is so good that I struggle to hear a major difference—which proves to be more dependent on the headphones being used. The Sennhieser HD 650s (recabled by ALO Audio) show the most marked change for the better of anything else tried here, so the balanced option is definitely worth investigation.

It is also worth mentioning that, because of its high output (1 watt into a 600-ohm load and 4.3 watts into 32 ohms), there is always plenty of headroom on tap, regardless of what phones you are using. And we should also make the necessary public service announcement about watching the volume control: With this much clean power on tap, it’s easy to overdrive your ears.

The key to the Taurus’ excellence is balance. This amplifier delivers the full range of sound at a high level of quality. It offers enough low-frequency drive to keep the biggest bassheads happy, with mids that are silky smooth (though not embellished) and with a high-frequency response that is extended and detailed but that never crosses into harsh, strained territory.

Not to Trivialize Tech

The Taurus is equally gorgeous under the hood. Removing the top panel reveals high-quality parts, thick circuit boards that are concisely laid out and a massive power supply that would look more at home in a modestly sized power amplifier than in a headphone amplifier. The Class-A modules feature massive heat sinks to stay within their proper operating temperature. Nothing has been scrimped on in the least.

All this science serves the music quite well. It will only take a short test drive to not only convince you what a great product this is, but to also get you to forget about what’s inside the box—as it should be. And for this, we are happy to present AURALiC with an Exceptional Value Award for this remarkable headphone amp.  -Jeff Dorgay

Taurus MKII Headphone Amplifier

MSRP:  $1,895

www.auralic.com

Peripherals

In the past two years since the Sooloos music server has entered my life, I must admit that the music-lover side of my personality has been dominating my audiophile side.  I’ve always loved vinyl, but having 7000 CD’s that you can mix and match to your hearts content has gotten, well, addictive.  Add two world-class digital front ends to the mix (the Naim CD555 and now the dCS Paganini) and it gets tougher to stay on the analog bus every day.  Who really wants to screw around with VTA anyhow?  Let’s play some more Slayer.

Analysis paralysis is equally virulent to the avid audiophile as well as the reviewer; it’s easy to sample too many wares and get lost somewhere along the journey.  And this has happened to me more than once.  A number of combinations have brought me close to analog bliss, which I thought would last forever. But in the end, the convenience of the Sooloos/dCS had me saying, “I’ll clean that pile of records tomorrow…”  Then another change, and that fleeting happiness was lost again.

I was lost but now I’m found

Joe Harley from Music Matters was the man that saved me.  At last year’s CES, he and his partner Ron Rambach said, almost in unison, “Get the new ARC REF and stop screwing around.”  Shortly thereafter, I had a chance to hear the REF in Harley’s system and I was pretty overwhelmed (in a great way) while listening to quite a few of his test pressings from the current Blue Note catalog as well as some of his past efforts on AudioQuest records.  This was truly the analog magic I’d been seeking.

Everything I heard that evening left me feeling like I was listening to a great surround-sound mix, except it was coming from two speakers, not six or eight.  Best of all, the second I closed my eyes, those speakers were gone and I was swimming in a gigantic fish bowl of sound.

About two years ago when we reviewed the PH7 phono preamplifier, I asked ARC’s Dave Gordon if they would ever produce another REF phono stage. “Not at present,” he replied, “but we haven’t ruled out the idea of another REF if there is enough demand.” And here we are, two years later with the REF 2.  I must extent my heartfelt thanks to all of you who kept the pressure on ARC to produce the REF 2.

Past vs. Present

The original REF Phono had a massive compliment of tubes, using 11 6922’s in various locations, a 5AR4 rectifier tube and a 6550 along with another 6922 to perform voltage-regulator duties, as they have done in some of their other designs.   The new REF Phono 2 utilizes four 6H30 tubes along with a FET input stage, as they have in the PH5, 6 and 7.  Gordon said, “Using tubes at the input is just too noisy; the input FET’s are the only way to get that low-level signal to emerge from a black background.”  The REF 2 Phono also uses solid-state rectifiers but retains the 6550 as a voltage regulator, this time in conjunction with another 6H30 tube.

The original REF Phono had a pricetag of $6,995 and the current REF Phono 2 costs $11,995. This is a substantial increase in price, but the new version offers quite a bit more under the hood as well as on the front panel, which is available in silver or black finish.

ARC has made an interesting style change with the REF Phono 2, the top panel is now a grey smoked acrylic, allowing full view of the tube complement.  Those wanting the traditional metal top panel can order their preamp this way at no additional charge.

While the original REF Phono for all practical purposes had one input, you could switch between a low-gain and a high-gain input via a rear panel switch, so using two turntables was not terribly convenient.  The new version has been designed from the ground up to be a two-input phono preamplifier, using microprocessor controls to switch between inputs.  ARC has incorporated the large vacuum-fluorescent display from their other components to excellent use here.  You can view input, gain, loading and equalization at a glance from across the room.  The remote control will also allow you to see how many hours have elapsed on the tubes, and those who are driven crazy by lights in their “deep listening” sessions can dim or completely darken the display.

Another big change in circuitry is the REF Phono 2’s fully balanced design.  Though its two phono inputs are single-ended, the preamplifier is balanced throughout and offers single-ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs.  For those doing any recording of their vinyl via tape or digital means, it’s worth noting that I was able to drive a recorder from the single-ended outputs and send the balanced outputs to my Burmester preamplifier with no degradation in performance.  The resulting captured files were fantastic, being fed straight from the REF into my Nagra LB digital recorder or Technics RS-1500 open reel deck.

Interestingly, even though the REF Phono 2 only draws a maximum of 140 watts from the AC line, it has a square 20A IEC power socket.  I’m assuming that this helps to make a more solid connection to the power cord, also showing that no detail was left unexamined in the creation of ARC’s flagship phono stage.

Needs a little time to cook

Like every other component I’ve auditioned with a large compliment of Teflon capacitors, the REF is going to take 500 hours to sound its best, and ARC even suggests 600 hours in the owner’s manual.  For the naysayers in the audience who feel break-in is pure poppycock, I had a unique situation with the REF that verifies this concept beyond doubt.  My initial review sample had made a few stops before it got here, so I was able to sidestep the break-in process and begin evaluating it immediately. The REF sounds OK  directly out of the box but there is substantial improvement after 100-200 hours.  It really comes out of the fog right around 350 hours, getting even better until the 500-hour mark.  Fortunately, ARC includes a timer linked to the display on the front panel to help you keep track.  It’s critical to note that you have to pass a signal through the unit during these hours; just keeping the unit on is not enough.

As the REF I was using was the one from ARC’s demo room, when I decided to purchase the review sample, Gordon insisted that they send me a brand new unit from production and that I return the review sample. This, of course, caused some anxiety as I did not want to go through the break-in process with a component that I use daily.  Fortunately, I was able to keep the review unit for a couple of weeks while my new REF racked up hours.  It did provide a unique opportunity to compare a fresh unit to one with almost 1,000 hours on the clock, and the difference was staggering.  The fresh, out-of-the-carton sample sounded flat and lifeless when compared with the fully broken-in unit, with everything else being the same.

If you aren’t enthused about running up 500 hours on your exotic (and expensive) phono cartridge just for break in purposes, I suggest the Hagerman IRIAA.  Unlike so-called “cookers,” this is a passive device that attenuates the signal from a high-level input and applies an inverse-RIAA curve so that your CD player now presents a signal that mimics what comes from your phono cartridge.  Unless you are completely OC, I’d suggest getting one of these handy little devices and let the REF rack up at least a couple hundred hours before listening, if you can bear it. You can buy one as a kit for $29 or a fully assembled one for $49 here: http://www.hagtech.com/iriaa2.html I can’t suggest this device highly enough.  Remember: 300 hours equals about 450 albums.  Do you have that kind of patience to hear what your REF is really capable of?  I know I don’t.

Adjustable and compatible

While I’ve heard many great phono preamplifiers over the years, ease of adjustability makes or breaks the sale for me because I’m always auditioning phono cartridges. If you are a set it and forget it person, this may not be as big of a deal.  I’m guessing that most analog devotees willing to spend a dozen big ones on a phono stage have more than one turntable and a few different cartridges around to listen to mono recordings, perhaps some 78’s, early Deccas, or they would just like to have an a cartridge with a completely different tonality at their disposal.   With two inputs, each can be configured as high (68db) or low (54db, check both of these) gain, adjustable loading (50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 47k and custom) and switchable EQ (RIAA, Columbia and Decca) all from the remote. That’s as good as it gets.  If you have a plethora of cartridges in your collection, the REF Phono 2 is a dream come true. Now you can geek out with ease.

All this talk of multiple turntables brings me to my two minor complaints about the REF Phono 2: the single ground post is a pain and I wish it had three inputs.  Honestly, I wish it had four inputs, but I don’t expect anyone else to share my madness.  Every cartridge I used with the REF sounded so good that I just didn’t want to go back to any of the other phono preamps on my rack.  Even my modest Rega P25 with Shelter 501 II revealed so much more music through the REF than it ever had before, I just didn’t want to take a step backward.

Dynamics, Tone, Texture

The debate on live versus real sound seems to be a hot topic these days, with one faction claiming their HiFi system is more real than real, while the others shake their heads in denial saying that any attempt at reproducing sound in inherently flawed.  I submit that with the right music (especially music that is more sparse than complex) and the right system, it can get scarily close to sounding like the real thing.

Dynamics are a big part of the equation. You need a system that can go from 0-200 in a heartbeat without distortion or overhang.  Those who feel that you have an inadequate “audio vocabulary” need not worry; when it’s wrong you know it.  When a system or component lacks the necessary horsepower to deliver full-spectrum dynamic contrast, your ears and brain object instantly.  The REF passes this test with ease, offering up a large dose of weight and grip that is apparent the minute you play your favorite record.  I went through some of my favorite classic rock warhorses (Led Zeppelin, The Who, Genesis, etc.) and was instantly taken aback by how much more raw power these discs now possessed.

Classical-music lovers will also appreciate the combination of dynamics and low-end grunt, coming a step or two closer to convincing you that you are there after all…  Regardless of what might be on your top 10 list, the REF Phono 2’s ability to completely get out of the way of the music and present acoustic instruments in such an incredibly accurate way will astonish you record after record.

In comparing a few other top phono stages from Aesthetix, Boulder and Burmester, they all offer up their own take on musical reproduction, from warm and romantic to analytical.  The perfect one for you will be that which bests suits your musical taste and achieves the best synergy with your system.  I must say the REF Phono 2 was a perfect match for my reference system, offering up just that drop of tube warmth that I really enjoy without sacrificing any resolution that a few of the other contenders also possess.  If you want a phono stage more on the warm, gooey and romantic side of the tonal scale, consider the IO or the Zanden.  Conversely, if you’d like a somewhat more analytical presentation, the two solid-state options from Boulder might be your cup of tea.  Having listened to them all extensively in the past year, the REF 2 Phono was the one that gave me the biggest dose of everything. And it has a relatively small tube complement that is easy to source.  As the 6H30 really doesn’t offer a lot of options for tube rolling, I suggest just calling ARC when you are ready for new tubes, which they claim last about  5,000 hours.

Much like a power amplifier with a massive power supply, the REF Phono 2 has an uncanny ability to keep low-level details intact.  I’m sure this was due in part to its incredibly silent background as well as its hybrid design.  This is where the all-tube phono stages really fall down; they just can’t achieve this kind of silence.  Again, classical- and acoustic-music lovers will pick up on this instantly.  If your source material is of high enough quality, it adds to the sense of realism, with instruments coming right out at you in space as they would in real life.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the REF 2 Phono, though, is its uncanny ability to delineate texture, again giving the nod to acoustic-music lovers.  Granted, it’s always nice to hear more electric-guitar growl on your favorite rock record, but the REF 2 Phono always allowed me to hear further into my favorite recordings, electric or acoustic.

Finally, that gigantic soundstage I heard at Joe Harley’s house was always present in my system as well.  When playing Cream’s live recordings from their 2005 Royal Albert Hall performances, my speakers disappeared completely. and thanks to the additional dynamic range of adding a second Burmester 911 mk. 3 power amplifier to my system, I felt that this was as close as I would ever get to having Eric Clapton in my listening room.  A good friend who has a multichannel version of this recording said that he doesn’t get this much depth on his 5.1 setup!  I rest my case.

I’m back and I’m diggin it

The ARC REF Phono 2 has renewed my love for analog, plain and simple.  It has all of the qualities that I value in a phono preamp: a stunningly low noise floor, massive dynamics and tonal realism in spades.  And it is extremely easy to change gain and loading, making it an excellent tool for evaluating cartridges, as well as being a complete blast to listen to.  A great side benefit of having the REF in my system is that the 24/192 digital captures I’ve been producing have been better than ever, so this phono preamplifier has had a positive impact on the digital side of my system as well.

If you are shopping for a statement phono preamplifier, I can’t think of a better choice than the ARC REF Phono. Considering some of the other choices in the $15,000 – $25,00 range, it’s actually quite a value, which is why we’ve given it our Product of the Year award in the analog category.  I’m truly happy to be this excited about analog again.  -Jeff Dorgay

Audio Research REF Phono 2 Phono preamplifier

MSRP:  $11,995  (available in silver or black)

www.audioresearch.com

Peripherals

McIntosh has always built preamplifiers that define the term “input flexibility,” which is why I always refer to them as control centers.  With nine inputs and six variable outputs (two XLR and four RCA) in addition to a processor loop, it’s safe to say this preamplifier should be able to accommodate every source in your system.  It also features a MC and MM phono stage that can be configured from the front panel or your remote control, so no stone is left unturned.  MSRP for the C500 is $12,000 in either the solid-state or tube version.  You can buy all three boxes for $18,000, but the C500 controller can only access one preamplifier at a time.

A two-box design, the C500 has an interesting twist for those having the age-old debate about the validity of solid state versus vacuum tubes; you can configure your C500 either way.  It’s actually two preamplifiers, the C500P (solid state) or C500T (tube).  The flagship C1000 controller offers the same choices and allows you to drive both preamplifier modules simultaneously, but with the C500, you have to draw a line in the sand and pick one.  For those on the fence, your McIntosh dealer should be able to audition both.

While McIntosh does an excellent job at voicing their gear similarly, there is still an elusive magic to the tube sound that is tough to ignore, and while a vacuum-tube preamplifier means that you will have to change tubes from time to time, it’s nice to have the option.  The end user is the winner thanks to this unprecedented ability to fine-tune your system, even to the all-McIntosh customer.  And both two-box designs feature a set of big, blue output-level meters.

A fully balanced design from input to output, the C500 uses eight 12AX7 tubes: four in the high level circuit and four more in the phono preamplifier.  The phono preamplifier circuit is all tube if you are using the moving magnet (MM) stage. If you have a lower-output moving-coil (MC) phono cartridge, the MC stage uses McIntosh’s own solid-state phono step-up modules instead of an input transformer.   Four of the 12AX7’s are visible from the front panel, back lit in green, while the other four are beneath the top cover.

Setup

The controller section of the C500 has no tubes inside and generates almost no heat, but the preamplifier section does get a little bit warm with eight tubes inside, so make sure to give it some ventilation room.  Once both boxes are unpacked, you will notice a pair of umbilical cords that look like parallel-interface printer cables from the earlier days of PC-based computing.  According to Ron Cornelius, McIntosh’s Sales Manager, there are only control voltages running through these cables; “There are no audio signals here.”  So for the tweekophiles in the audience, put your fears aside.

The single IEC power socket is located on the controller chassis, which also houses the dual power supplies for each channel, making the C500 a true dual-mono design.  For those new to the McIntosh fold, these power transformers are wound in-house, as they always have been.

Once power is attached, the C500 stays in standby mode and on power up, displays a “tube warmup” message on the LCD front panel, with the outputs muted.  Worth noting is that the C500 does not produce a harsh transient, should you forget and shut the preamplifier off before your power amp.  A nice touch, especially should you be using an amplifier with significant power output.

If you are incorporating the C500 into an all-McIntosh system, there are seven individual data ports so you can link your other components to the C500 and control them all from the one remote – very cool if you have come to the point where you are considering hiring a feng shui consultant to keep your remotes in order!  The C500 also features 12V trigger ports, so you can turn everything on with the single power switch.  A great feature with other amplifiers but very impressive on a large McIntosh system when you see all of those blue and green faceplates light up at once.

Most of my listening for the review period was conducted with the MC275 vacuum-tube power amplifier and the MC1.2 KW solid-state monoblocks, and with a variety of speakers.  The system was cabled entirely with Cardas Clear and utilized the balanced connections on all but one input (The dCS Paganini).  After the initial listening was complete, I swapped the standard-issue power cord for a Python CX from Shunyata, as I use on my reference Burmester preamplifier.

How about that input flexibility?

It doesn’t stop with the number of inputs.  The C500 allows you to trim the outputs of each program source +/- 6db and you can do it from the comfort of your listening chair, making it easy to fine tune the system so there are no surprises when going from CD to tuner, etc.  Seeing that McIntosh has put so much effort into the display programming, it would be nice to see this taken a step further to let the user fully customize the input readout (a-la BAT or Simaudio). It would be great for those with multiple turntables and digital players to be able to have the display say “Rega P9” instead of “Phono MM.”

However, you can rename the inputs to the preset CD 2, Aux 2, etc. and you can shut off the display on the inputs that are not in use. So if you have only three inputs, you will only be switching between the active ones to avoid confusion.  The display has seven steps of brightness from which to choose, and the meters can be switched off for those who like to listen in total darkness. But the question begs to be asked: why would you ever want to switch off the meters on a McIntosh?

The MM phono stage has adjustments for capacitive loading from 50pf to 750pf in 50pf increments.  As there are a number of high-quality MM cartridges on the market, this allows to perfectly optimize your MM cartridge playback.    The MC phono stage allows the input resistive loading to be set at 25, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 ohms.  This should cover the bulk of MM cartridges that are available, but for the hard-core turntable enthusiast, it would be nice to see a “custom” setting that can be set by a competent technician.

Should you still own a high-performance tape deck or other recording device, the record and listen processor loops will come in handy.  I found this to be indispensable using the Manley Massive Passive studio EQ, when capturing digital files from my favorite LP’s for music-server use.  Thanks to the C500’s playback loop, I could sneak the Manley into the system to use with troublesome CD’s for playback as well.  While this is a feature that few will use, those with multiple sources will appreciate it.

Definitely sounds like a McIntosh

Almost all McIntosh gear has a full-bodied sound that leans slightly to the warm side of neutral, but I can’t ever think of an instance where it isn’t welcome.  I’ve heard other preamplifiers with more resolution, but the C500 offers a great balance between the lush, overly tubey sound of the ’60s and a modern high-resolution sound.  While a few of your most pristine, perfectly recorded discs (analog or digital) may not have the last bit of slam and dynamics as they might on a more resolving preamplifier, I’ll bet that at least half of the records in your record collection will benefit from that extra tonal richness that the C500 offers.  This is one of the main reasons for the fierce loyalty of McIntosh owners.

But don’t think the C500 doesn’t hold its own against the competition.  When listening to the GamuT S9, the YG Acoustics Anat Studio II, the MartinLogan CLX and recently the Estelon XA (all very high-resolution speakers in the $30,000 – $140,000 range), I never felt the preamplifier was holding the system back.

When comparing to my reference Burmester amp and preamp, the tubes had a definite warmth, but it was always inviting.  Male and female vocals came alive in a way that they only seem to do with tubes – there was just more of a third dimension available.  Listening to Neil Young’s voice on the 24/96 version of Harvest was easily discernable from the standard 16/44 copies.

The soundstage of the C500 was always BIG.  This seems to be so much easier to accomplish with vacuum tubes, and if you listen to a lot of rock and contemporary jazz that is created in a studio with a somewhat artificial soundstage to begin with, the C500 will win you over on this aspect alone.  Listening to “Woman in Chains” from the Tears For Fears album, The Seeds of Love, the triangle played during the opening of the song appears to float about 10 feet beyond the speaker boundary.  It’s not real, of course, but it is cool.  If you love classic rock, you will be in heaven with the C500.

Solid-State or Tubes?

By far, the most intriguing feature of the C500 is it’s ability to work with a vacuum-tube output stage or a solid-state one.  As I suspected, the solid-state version had a bit more punch and the tube stage was slightly mellower.  The solid-state preamp section also had slightly more weight in the lower registers.  When listening to some bass-heavy tracks from Tosca, utilizing the JL Audio Gotham subwoofer, the tube section had a slightly looser feel, whereas the solid-state version offered a bass perspective that would more punch you in the chest.  If you have a system capable of going down deep (the Gotham is only down -3db at 16hz) and perhaps listen to a lot of electronica, the solid-state version might be for you.

While I could happily live with either configuration, I did gravitate more towards the all-tube preamplifier with the MC 1.2KW solid-state monoblocks and the Octave MRE tube monoblocks (which are somewhat “un-tubey” sounding), while the solid-state output stage was more to my liking with the MC275 vacuum-tube power amplifier and my Conrad Johnson MV-50C1, which each have a fairly warm overall tonal balance.
Though definitely a great subject for a month-long internet forum argument, deciding which one of these two is right for you is immaterial.  The good news is that you have the option.  Should your needs change, you can go to your McIntosh dealer and purchase the alternative.  Upon reconnecting all of your other components and the umbilical cord, a simple reset on the front panel and the C500 will make the necessary change.

Spinning records

C500 owners who have just one turntable and perhaps don’t swap cartridges often won’t be able to take advantage of one of this preamplifier’s best features: the ability to set loading from your listening position.  Cartridge swaps are a weekly occurrence here, and many audiophiles will have removable headshells or tonearm wands that use a specific cartridge for different purposes or as the mood strikes.  The more-involved vinyl junkie will be right at home with the C500.

I managed to try almost a dozen different phono cartridges from the Shure M97xe all the way to the Clearaudio DaVinci, all with excellent luck.  The only cartridge for which I could not get the perfect match was the SoundSmith Sussaro, which is a moving-iron cartridge that sounds its best at about 2,500 ohms.  There are a few moving-magnet cartridges that also perform a bit better slightly above or below the standard 47k loading, but these are the exception rather than the rule for 99.9 percent of analog users.  Most MC cartridges should easily work between 100 and 1,000 ohms (though the 25 ohm setting is a fantastic match for the Rega Apheta MC).

Thanks to the solid-state modules in the MC section, the C500 is quieter than an all-tube phono stage and has a healthy dose of dynamic punch as well.  A tiny bit of background noise creeps in to the C500’s phono stage, but you have to put your ear right up to the tweeter to hear it.  The solid-state modules in the MC section aren’t just switched into the MM signal path.  According to the engineers at McIntosh, there are two separate phono stages under the hood of the C500.

While listening to Joni Mitchell’s Wild Things Run Fast, (the recent ORG pressing), I found there was a wonderful midrange bloom to the presentation that made Mitchell’s voice take over the soundstage in a very enjoyable manner.  I had similar results with any other strong vocalists in my record collection.  Playing Marquise Knox’ Man Child on LP was a chilling experience, revealing enough of his vocal character that you just might be fooled into thinking that you are back at Chad Kassem’s Crossroads Blues Festival.

Comparing the phono stage in the C500 with some of the outboard phono stages we’ve had the opportunity to live with during the past few years, it offers a level of performance that would cost you $2,000 – $3,000 in an outboard phono stage. A separate MM and MC stage is pretty much non-existent at this price, plus you probably would want to buy an upgraded power cord along with a pair of decent interconnects going from phono stage to linestage.

Don’t forget the phones

McIntosh doesn’t ignore the headphone users on any of their preamplifiers, and the C500 is no exception.  While not the last word in headphone performance, you would have to spend somewhere between $500- $1,000 to get an outboard headphone amp (and remember, more cables….) to put this one in the weeds.  Running the gamut of the AKG 701’s, Grado GS-1’s, Sennheiser 650’s and my new favorites, the Audeze LCD-2’s, I came away impressed with the C500’s performance.

The headphone stage sounded identical on both output sections, leading me to believe that the phono board is identical in each. Though it would only benefit a small number of customers, it would be cool to run the tube output stage direct through the phones.  If you are like me and enjoy headphone use from time to time but don’t feel the need to invest in a multi-thousand-dollar headphone setup, the C500 should serve your needs just fine.

Looks great, sounds great

McIntosh has stayed true to its look and feel, so the big, backlit glass front panel and blue meters will either speak to you or they won’t.  The C500 is rock solid.  It’s been playing here for about the past six months, 12 hours a day without so much as a burp, and I suspect that it will continue to do so just as so many McIntosh preamplifiers do out there in the world.

The best reason for buying this preamplifier is its combination of performance and flexibility. Whether you ultimately make one the cornerstone of your system depends on whether you can make use of what it offers.  There are a few $12,000 linestages out there that will extract more music from your recordings, but none of them have a built-in MM and MC phono stage, or a built-in headphone amp. So the C500 ends up being a little spendy if you don’t need the phono stage and a killer bargain if you do.  It’s also nice to know that should your amplification needs change, you can fine tune the C500 with some tube rolling or even change the output stage to solid state.  -Jeff Dorgay

McIntosh C500 Control Preamplifier

MSRP:  $12,000 – $18,000

www.macintoshlabs.com

Peripherals

Vienna Acoustics takes pride in doing things somewhat differently than the rest of the pack.  Most manufacturers refer to their SE models as “special editions,” yet the new Mozart is a “Symphony Edition.”  A nice touch.  Also, whereas many speakers utilize a ring radiator or metallic dome of some sort, Vienna chooses a 1.1-inch silk dome tweeter, produced to the company’s specs in the Scan-Speak factory.

“We kept the front faceplate from a standard Scan-Speak tweeter to keep cost down,” says Kevin Wolff, Vienna Acoustics’ International Sales Director.  “But inside, it’s all different.  We pushed for a handful of design changes to make this tweeter really special.”  And special it is.  The tweeter is the same one used in the $6,500-per-pair Beethoven Concert Grand speakers and, like those pricier models, the $3,500 Mozart SEs redefine “sweet spot.”

A visit from Wolff underlines just how good these speakers are and how critical it is to fine-tune speaker placement.  The Mozarts sound great right out of the box, but 20 minutes of careful fine-tuning takes them from great to sublime.  Think, for a minute, how your car’s ride is affected with one tire underinflated.  The crisp steering response you’re used to is diminished, but a quick trip to the air pump makes a substantial difference, making things right again.  It’s the same with speaker placement.  Once the Mozart’s are right, they disappear in the room like a great pair of mini monitors, but with a much more robust LF response.

Satisfied that things are performing properly, we audition a number of different tracks.  At the end of our listening session, the MoFi LP of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On makes its way to the turntable and Wolff smiles.  The Mozarts definitely have the juju, revealing the magic of the Lyra Atlas cartridge—quite impressive for any speaker, but even more so considering their reasonable price.

Comfortable Playing Everything

The ultra-wide stereo effect of Lou Donaldson’s LD+3 immediately captivates, accentuating the improved sound of the Audio Wave remaster, as well as the timbral accuracy that the Mozart SEs bring to the presentation.  While we can blather on about crossover slopes and the like, suffice it to say that everything works together brilliantly—in seconds you forget such tedious technical details and concentrate on the music.  Gene Harris’ piano sounds wonderful and Donaldson’s sax commands the soundstage.  The Mozart’s simply let the music shine through, leaving you to just enjoy rather than analyze.

Students of PRaT (Pace, Rhythm and Timing) will be instantly smitten with the Mozart SEs.  Changing the pace from classic Blue Note jazz to the title track of Frank Zappa’s Jazz From Hell is equally fascinating.  The Mozart SEs do not miss a lick of Zappa’s rapid time changes and dissonant textures.  Donald Fagen’s new release, Sunken Condos, provides a calm middle ground.  The highly textured and stylized studio recording illustrates how well the Mozart SEs effortlessly keep everything sorted.

Don Henley’s “Not Enough Love in the World,” from his album Building the Perfect Beast, is similarly rendered.  This slightly compressed, over-processed and totally ’80s classic divulges new treasures.  Henley’s voice has major depth, combined with layer upon layer of synthesizers—you can almost feel someone bending the pitch wheel on that Yamaha DX7.  Leaving this ’80s genre for some heavier tunes proves an important point about the Mozarts:  They give a riveting performance of less-than-primo recordings, an important consideration for those of us living in the real world.

U2’s Rattle and Hum has to be one of the most poorly recorded live albums in history.  But, when cranking up “All Along the Watchtower” to what has to be the Mozarts’ breaking point (the meters on the ARC REF 250’s pushing close to the “caution” zone), the speakers handle it effortlessly, proving that these are not speakers limited to only a handful of audiophile-approved pressings.  In the midst of this gigantic ball of midrange, you can distinctly pick out the Edge’s backup vocals over the distorted guitars and throttling bass line.  The Mozarts are clearly just as comfortable playing it casual or formal.

The review wouldn’t be complete without playing a bit of the music for which these speakers are named—and Kathleen Battle performing “Motet; Exsultate, Jubilate, K.165” (from Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart) adequately fits the bill.  Battle’s pure soprano gently fills the soundstage, going rapidly up and down the scale.  Here, speakers lacking the Mozarts’ transient speed would blur horribly.  Again, the Mozarts maintain the pace perfectly with complex fare, even at low volumes.  The speakers realistically reproduce the violins while still giving more than enough weight to the orchestra.

Moving into a heavier and more-modern realm of musical selections, I was impressed with the level of bass output of the two 6.5-inch drivers.  A long playlist of electronica and hip-hop tracks proves that these speakers are only limited by the accompanying amplifiers’ power reserve.  Deadmau5’ “Right This Second” from the 4×4=12 album goes down very deep, forcing the Mozart SEs to move a serious amount of air, which they handle impeccably.  Before bouncing back to Daft Punk, a quick interlude of Pink Floyd, Genesis and Mickey Hart confirms the speakers’ major bass output.

Labeled a 2.5-way system, the speakers are equipped with two woofers, which handle the deepest bass tones and combine the speed of smaller drivers but have the output of a single larger one.  The lower driver gently rolls off as frequencies rise, offering the pinpoint imaging and low upper-bass coloration of a mini monitor.

Beautiful Inside and Out

Relying on gentle crossover slopes and wideband drivers, the Mozart SEs achieve a 90-dB sensitivity rating and are tremendously easy to drive.  Crossover capacitors are matched to 1% tolerance and the inductors to .7%.  You’d expect this kind of fanaticism in a $20,000 pair of speakers, but it’s unheard of in a $3,500 pair.  “We only know how to build a speaker one way,” Wolff says with a smile, as way of explanation.

The cabinets of these beauties are equally sumptuous yet understated.  The radius on the front baffle is hand-finished—the piano-black finish puts the paint job of an S-Class Mercedes to shame.  The binding posts are unique to Vienna Acoustics, and they’re not those dreadful plastic-coated binding items that so many manufacturers have adopted.  Even the front grille takes a different approach:  The crease down the middle helps to channel tweeter energy, in “all but the most critical listening situations,” according to the company.

The drivers are VA’s own design, assembled at the Scan-Speak factory, and it’s worth noting that the woofers show an equal level of obsession on behalf of the manufacturer.  The company utilizes its own X3P composite, which can vary in consistency to the intended application, so these are far from being off-the-shelf polypropylene cones.  The transparent cone used for the Mozarts has become a VA design cue, blending visually into the design of the black speakers.

This extreme attention to detail reminds me of when Porsche introduced the first water-cooled 911.  Comedian and freelance Porsche spokesperson Jerry Seinfeld commented on the “density of thought” that goes into the manufacturing of Porsche automobiles. Similarly, in sea of mass-produced speaker systems, the Mozart SEs exude quality, regardless of how far you dissect them.

Sure, the bigger VA speakers play louder and go deeper, but the sonic quality of these speakers is tremendous for $3,500.  The Mozarts prove a phenomenal match for the new Primare I22 integrated DAC/amplifier that Wolff happens to have on hand.  (A full review of that piece of gear is in the works.)  At $2,499, the Primare is an awesome match to the Mozarts, as are the various other reasonably priced amplifiers we have at our disposal.  Yet, when connected to a full complement of ARC reference components, the speakers deliver even greater performance, well beyond what you’d expect for $3,500 a pair.

Pick Your Finish

You can get your own pair of Mozart SEs in Rosewood, Maple, Cherry or the Piano Black that our review sample arrived in.  For an additional charge, a stunning Piano White is also available.  The beautiful finishes of these speakers serve to remind that, in a world where a $20,000 price tag is more common than not, it’s refreshing to find a pair of $3,500 speakers that are built with the same level of care and attention to detail as those with a five-figure price tag.

The Vienna Acoustics Mozart SEs combine musical accuracy with dynamic ability in a compact and stylish package.  They are not only worthy of one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012, they are one of the best speaker values this writer has encountered in a long time.

Vienna Acoustics Mozart SE loudspeakers

MSRP:  $3,500/pair (cherry and piano black)  $3,850 (rosewood and piano white)

www.vienna-acoustics.com

Peripherals

With a number of stratospherically priced DACs on the market, it’s exciting to see DACs priced between $1,000 and $1,500 offering so much performance.  Reminiscent of the horsepower wars of the 1960s, it seems that every time a new standard of DAC performance is reached the bar is raised even higher.  This time, Wadia—a company known for decades for its innovations in the realm of digital audio and, more recently, for its game-changing 170i iPod dock—delivers world-class sound at a very affordable price tag with its new 121 Decoding Computer.

Much like phonostages, you can purchase an outboard DAC for a couple hundred dollars and it’s a great way to embrace computer audio.  Outboard DACs can also serve as an upgrade to a budget CD transport.  Jumping to the $500 level brings more musicality and the ability to play high-res files, but going to the next level (the aforementioned $1,000-to-$1,500 range) is very exciting and, in the opinion of this reviewer, where the game gets seriously intriguing.  Combining a computer source and a great $1,500 DAC with your choice of high-performance playback software (like Pure Music, Amarra or one of the other current favorites) puts you in close proximity to what would have cost $10,000 two years ago.

Having used Wadia gear as a personal reference for years, I was excited to hear the company’s new S7i digital player during a recent visit to Sumiko’s sound room in Berkeley, California.  Immersed in the sound of the $200,000-per-pair Sonus faber flagship speakers and two towers of REL G-1 subwoofers, driven by Pass Labs monoblocks, I felt in familiar territory.  Yet, when I commented on how great the S7i sounded, I was instantly corrected.  “That’s the new 121,” a Sumiko representative informed me.  So, in the context of a major six-figure system, the 121 playing 16-bit/44.1-kHz files via a computer sounded damn good.

Imagine an S7i with no disc drawer, shrunk down to Barbie-Dream-House size.  That’s the 121—in general.  It does use an external wall-wart supply, but that’s the only place Wadia really scrimped on the design.  I’m sure making a super-high-zoot external supply would wring more performance out of the 121, but then it would probably cost twice as much.  (Mod-crazed audiophiles take note:  Sumiko’s John Paul Lizars made it very clear to me that the series 1 Wadia products would not be receiving upgraded external power supplies.)

Expensive power supply or not, the 121 is a serious DAC—or, as Wadia calls it, a digital decoding computer—which quickly becomes apparent when perusing its front and back panels.  Rather than work with the same chipsets used in many other DACs, the 121 uses Wadia’s patented DigiMaster circuitry to upsample the incoming digital data to a 32-bit, 1.40-MHz bitstream.  All inputs accommodate up to 24-bit/192-kHz data and the USB input is asynchronous.

Wadia also built a headphone amplifier into the 121, with a 1/4-inch jack on the front panel.  Running the gamut of headphones at my disposal from Grado, AKG, Sennheiser and Audeze proved enjoyable.  The 121 easily passes muster as a first-rate headphone amplifier.  It also makes a perfect system for playing music from portable devices when paired with Wadia’s 170i or 171i iPod dock.  The 121’s small footprint makes it an easy fit on a desktop next to your computer or on a nightstand for after hours listening.

But what really separates the 121 from the rest of the comparably priced herd is its 32-bit digital volume control, making this a true digital preamplifier, not just a DAC with an attenuator slapped on the end of the output stage.  Wadia includes a full-function remote to complete the package.

The 121 is a perfect example of the dividends reaped when a company building top-shelf products applies its expertise to something at this level.  “We incorporated as much functionality as we could into the 121,” notes Wadia CEO John Schaffer.  “We didn’t want to just put a few DAC chips on the board and slap a Wadia badge on the front.”

Back at the Mothership

It’s tough to argue with the performance heard at Sumiko, as the system was one of the best I’ve heard, but it’s always good to audition gear in familiar surroundings.  Plugged into my main reference system, comparing it directly to the Wadia 381i that I’ve owned for some time now, reveals the difference between the big box and the 121.

While it is unfair to compare the 121 to the $10K 381i, it’s fascinating to witness how much performance Wadia has been able to squeeze into this diminutive box, which is the exact same size as the 170i and 171i iPod docks.  When listening closely to the finger snaps in Giant Giant Sand’s “Ready or Not” (from the Tucson album) it is clear that the 381i delivers greater amounts of air and a longer-lasting decay, but the 121 handles the tonality amazingly well, while also presenting a big soundstage.  When listening casually to less-than-stellar program material, and not directly in the sweet spot, it’s easy to confuse the 121 for something much more expensive.

The 121 validates itself instantly when listening to how it delivers classical or acoustic music.  Spinning Itzhak Perlman’s Live in the Fiddler’s House instantly reveals this DAC’s ability to convincingly render the violin.  You can hear Perlman gently fingering the violin, with way more texture than you would expect at this price point and with ample air and decay.  It’s easy to forget what you are missing until switching to the 381i.  Yet, once switching back from the big-bucks DAC, the 121 continues to satisfy.  And this is in the context of a six-figure system, made up of all Audio Research reference components.

Placing the 121 in a system comprised of appropriately priced components—a PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium integrated amplifier and a pair of Vienna Acoustics Mozart speakers—is the right move.  High-resolution digital files via a MacBook Air and Amarra software meet or exceed the musicality delivered by a Rega RP3 turntable with Exact cartridge.

Blasting through a series of Blue Note XRCDs uncovers the same level of tonality:  Drums have the proper amount of attack and the standup bass is weighty as well as defined.  Wynton Kelly’s piano on Hank Mobley’s Soul Station floats in between the speakers, defined in it’s own space.  It’s not so much the jump between the $10K DAC and the 121 that’s tough to swallow; it’s going back to a budget DAC after listening to the 121 that proves there’s just no music in the inexpensive stuff—no life, no air, etc.

Compare and Contrast

The fairest comparisons for the 121 are the amazing Rega DAC for $995 and the Benchmark DAC1 USB at $1,195, especially given that the Benchmark can be used as a preamplifier.  It features a volume control (albeit an analog volume control, where the 121’s volume control operates in the digital domain) and headphone output.  All three DACs can handle 24-bit/192-kHz files.  Although neither DAC adds romance or sterility to the sound, the Rega has a slightly warmer, more romantic sound, while the Benchmark is straight-up—it’s a great “just the facts, ma’am” kind of DAC.

The 121 is closer to the Benchmark in tonality than the Rega, and each will appeal to a certain listener, but the Wadia’s edge is three-fold:  It has the widest dynamic range, more low-level-detail retrieval and more weight in the LF spectrum than the other two—again, very similar to my 381i.  Having lived with Wadia digital players for many years, I can tell you that the big, dynamic, weighty feel that Wadia DACs produce is easily recognizable—which is also the case with the 121.

In terms of connectivity, the TOSLINK input provided a slightly less-resolving presentation than the others, though it was still impressive and handy, should you have an older CD player that you would like to perk up.  A vintage Sony ES player, only having a TOSLINK output, showed a marked improvement via the digital output and the 121.  Comparing USB, SPDIF and the AES/EBU connections via 24/192 tracks, courtesy of the Aurender S10 server, revealed no anomalies between connections.  This plethora of inputs makes it easy to switch between a transport, music server and digital files on an iPod/iPhone via a Wadia dock—which makes the 121 perfect for the digital music lover with multiple sources.

All You Need

As great as the 121 performs in DAC mode, it’s the perfect hub for your music system.  The DigiMaster volume control is effective and sonically transparent, all the way down to the lowest range.  If there was some degradation of the original signal, we weren’t hearing it when I assembled the troops for a listening session.

Thanks to TOSLINK, BNC, RCA, AES/EBU and an asynchronous USB input, there are no limitations to what the 121 can use as a source.  We achieved excellent results using a Mac mini and MacBook Air, both running the latest version of Amarra; Wadia’s own 171i dock with an iPhone 4S; and an old Pioneer CD player as a transport.  The only thing keeping the 121 from appealing universally is its lack of a single analog input, which Benchmark incorporated into its highest-end version of the DAC1 PRE.  Including a single analog input gives someone wanting to integrate analog into their system the option to use the 121 as a full-function preamplifier.  For now, the 121 performs this task perfectly in an all-digital system.

The 121 does have fully balanced analog outputs that handle long cable lengths admirably.  The 121 has no problem with a 20-foot length of AVID SCT cable running from the rack to a bevy of awaiting power amplifiers.  Even terminating the amplifier end of the cable, with a Cardas balanced-to-RCA adaptor ,was no problem.

We paired the 121 with at least a dozen amplifiers, including tube, solid-state and class-D, and they all work equally well in terms of frequency range and drive.  However, this tube-lover favors the 121 with a number of low-power vacuum-tube amplifiers when using it strictly as a preamplifier.  Personal bias admitted, a touch of tubeyness goes a long way with digital sources.

Paired with the 121, the updated Conrad-Johnson MV50 tube power amplifier and Dynaudio Confidence C1 II speakers make for a fantastic, all-digital system, with more than enough resolution to easily discern between Red Book and high-resolution digital files, and compare various Amarra settings.  The 121 was no slouch driving the mighty Burmester 911 power amplifier directly; though, at this level, I did prefer having an active preamplifier in the signal path.  The bottom line:  With the 121, we have a $1,295 DAC that can hang with some pretty expensive company.

This is why we’ve determined that the Wadia 121 is more than worthy of one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012.  Whether seeking a high performance DAC or a fully functioning digital preamplifier to build your system around, your search is over.  -Jeff Dorgay

The Wadia 121

MSRP: $1,295

www.wadia.com

Peripherals

I’ve been having way too much fun with the AudioQuest DragonFly—so much fun that it’s taken me all year to write the damn review.  This nifty little device has quickly become a must-have travel accessory.  And although I’m perhaps not as sexy as George Clooney, I am on an airplane these days almost as much as his character in Up in the Air—but fortunately I never have to fire any of the people I’m visiting.

Here’s how it usually goes:  The minute we hit 10,000 feet and the pilot signals that personal electronics can now be used, I pull out the DragonFly and whatever phones I’ve brought along for the ride.  Before I can even get the cans on my head, the passenger in the seat next to mine asks, “What is that? I’ve never seen one of those. Is it expensive?”  And I’ve had just as many female as male passengers inquire.  On the flight home from the Munich High End show, I just happened to be sitting next to an audio nerd who was terribly impressed.  “How did you get one of those?” he asked.  It turns out that he was a loyal TONEAudio reader, which always makes for great conversation.

After a quick listen, everyone comes away convinced that they need a DragonFly—even Bose noise-cancelling headphones users, and that’s saying a lot.

What Makes It So Awesome?

We could go on and on about all the techie bits that make the DragonFly so special—like its 24-bit/96-kHz Sabre DAC, on-board headphone amplifier and built-in digital volume control—but that would be kind of boring.  (For those wanting such techie bits, read Art Dudley’s excellent review in the October issue of Stereophile.)

Beyond its technical achievements, the DragonFly succeeds on many levels.  It sounds way better than its $249 price tag suggests, but the real triumph of the DragonFly is that it’s accessible.  You don’t have to be a mega-nerdtron to understand it (or use it, for that matter), but if you are a true audio enthusiast, you’ll immediately grasp its gestalt.  Among the 100-plus parts inside this tiny music machine, which is barely bigger than a USB jump drive, are Sabre ESS DAC chips, a pair of clocks and a 60-step digital volume control.  The USB connector even uses the same silver coating as AQ’s premium USB audio cables.

But you’ll forget all of that the minute you plug it in.  I’ve used a couple of excellent portable DAC/headphone amplifiers, but none of them are conducive to traveling light.  The DragonFly requires no power adaptor, cables or accessories; just plug it right into your laptop’s USB port, direct your computer to use it as the sound output and you’re rolling.  It works equally well with Mac or Windows operating systems.

My review of the DragonFly begins with my current traveling companions, the Sennheiser PXC 450 noise-cancelling headphones.  Starting with Bombay Dub Orchestras’ 3 Cities, in straight 16-bit/44.1-kHz mode via iTunes, there is a major jump in sound quality that instantly eliminates some of the fog that always accompanies noise-cancelling phones.  With the already spacey vibe of this album, the presentation is definitely more hallucinogenic via the DragonFly.  Driving guitars, courtesy of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, quickly nudges me back into audiophile mode, as I listen to the big improvements the DragonFly makes to Apple Lossless files through noise-cancelling headphones.  The cymbals in “Fairies Wear Boots” have a smooth, natural timbre through the DragonFly that make me want to goose the volume up a bit higher than might be prudent—so be careful:  The lack of graininess and distortion catches you off guard at first.

Flying always makes me impatient, so I often bounce back and forth between music, movies and Angry Birds, but thanks to the DragonFly’s virtual elimination of listener fatigue, I’m listening to complete albums—something I rarely do on a plane.  I save the playlist from this trip so I can compare tracks when back in the office with a full compliment of other headphones.

Better Phones, Better Results

With the impressive performance that the PXC 450s turned in, I’m not prepared for what the DragonFly is capable of with my cache of over-ear headphones.  Should I start at the bottom and work up, or the other way around?  Decisions, decisions.  Patience gets the best of me and I jump right in with the Audeze LCD-2 planar phones and upgraded Cardas Clear headphone cable.

Yeow, this is incredible!  Even with 16-bit/44.1-kHz files, it’s like strapping a pair of Magnepan 1.7s onto my head, with a First Watt amplifier on my back—which would not be convenient or fashionable.  School Food Punishment’s Air Feel, Color Swim gives the LCD-2s a great workout, with layer upon layer of well-sorted vocals and synthesizers.  Switching back to the headphone jack on the MacBook Pro is now unacceptable—the additional resolution provided by the bigger phones is too much fun to be without.

There’s more texture and decay everywhere.  The bongos at the beginning of William Shatner’s rendition of “Space Truckin,” from Seeking Major Tom, now feels like it’s being played through a great pair of loudspeakers, and I find myself forgetting that I even have headphones on.

High-Resolution Files: The Final Frontier

Upping the ante to recently downloaded files from HDtracks shows just how much the DragonFly is capable of.  The latest version of Pure Music software is a night-and-day upgrade from the standard CD-quality files I have on hand of Herbie Hancock’s classic album, Head Hunters.  The beginning of “Watermelon Man” now has air on the acoustic instruments that wasn’t there before, and the bass line now has plenty of it’s own space and texture.  Those not convinced of the validity of higher-resolution digital files need not purchase a five-figure digital rig; the DragonFly and a great pair of headphones will make you an instant believer.

As my next-door neighbor, who knows nothing about audio, shouted while listening to the 24-bit/96-kHz version of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, “I like this a lot better!” (Funny how people shout when wearing headphones, isn’t it?)

Having auditioned a wide range of great DACs in the $1,000 range, I can tell you that the DragonFly easily competes.  It has a decidedly “un-digital” sound, with an ease that should appeal to even the most hardcore analog lovers.  At the risk of offending the analog loyalists, I will say that if I were putting together a system on a modest budget, I’d much rather listen to even Red Book CD files through the DragonFly than cobble together a $249 analog solution and play gnarly records found in the budget bins.

Eliminating the casework and power supply from the parts count (and no doubt some profit margin) goes a long way at getting the price down.  Bravo to AQ for delivering this product for such a down-to-Earth price.

Anchor Your Audio System

If the DragonFly were only a headphone amp, it would be a major bargain at $249, but it’s equally exciting used just as a DAC.  Mated to the Sansui receiver and JBL speakers (covered on page 77), and an earlier-generation Mac mini purchased on eBay for about $100 bucks, I managed to create an amazingly musical system for just under $1,000 total.  In this case, the fixed analog output of the DragonFly works well, taking the digital volume control out of the equation.

Picking out the ethereal Fairlight sounds on the Tubes’ Completion Backwards Principle is an exercise in trippiness.  Things were floating all around the imaginary soundstage in my head.  Not able to stop there, Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land dragged me further into the world inside my head—one that is typically only provided by listening to headphones.

Moving further upscale, to the system in room two, which is now configured with a Conrad-Johnson PV-12 preamplifier, Krell KSA-50 power amplifier and a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 II speakers, the DragonFly still cuts the mustard.  On a recent visit to the KEF factory in the UK, I had the pleasure of experiencing the DragonFly in KEF’s reference system with a pair of its flagship Blade speakers ($30,000/pair). Impressive!

No Longer Outside Looking In

There’s no better gateway drug for the world of high-quality sound reproduction than the AudioQuest DragonFly:  Just add the laptop and the headphones you already own and prepare to be blown away.  Or plug it into your current hi-fi system and use it as a high-resolution DAC—it’s all good.

If you spend as much time on a plane as George Clooney and I do, or if you are just an avid headphone listener, you need a DragonFly.  If you aren’t an avid headphone listener, I’ll bet you quickly become one with the DragonFly on hand.  And playing Angry Birds has never been more fun.  Bahooonga!

I am very happy to announce that the DragonFly is our Product of the Year in the digital category.    -Jeff Dorgay

The AudioQuest DragonFly

MSRP: $249

www.audioquest.com

So what exactly makes this a premium PrimaLuna product?  Like all products from the Dutch brand, the ProLogue Premium Premium Stereo Power Amplifier has a certain aesthetic appeal: a gunmetal-colored finish, which wouldn’t be out of place on an AMG Mercedes, set off by an anodized-aluminum faceplate (available in silver or black).  Also like the rest of the company’s lineup, the ProLogue Premium stereo amp offers serious levels of performance—this is where the amp’s premium designate becomes apparent.

Popping off the bottom cover reveals ceramic tube sockets and Nichicon and Solen capacitors flanked by premium resistors, along with newly designed output and power transformers.  Wiring is all point-to point and meticulously done by hand, which is one of the reasons PrimaLuna amps have earned such a high reputation for their reliability.  All this precision comes wrapped in a somewhat compact package that weighs nearly 50 pounds, and has an MSRP of $2,299.

Hassle-Free Tube Power

PrimaLuna amplifiers have long been known for their Adaptive AutoBias circuitry, a PrimaLuna trademark that makes traditional tube biasing a thing of the past.  This design allows a wide range of tubes to be used in the output sockets:  KT88 or EL34 tubes work equally well—every ProLogue Premium Series amplifier comes with either set of tubes installed.  (The KT88s produce 36 watts per channel; the EL34s produce 35 watts per channel.)  The new premium version of the amp adds a switch on the side of the chassis, allowing you to optimize the amplifier to your choice of tubes, in order to achieve the lowest possible levels of noise and distortion.

I’m immediately struck by the lively sonic response that the ProLogue provides, with a quick, organic and natural sound that spans all frequency ranges.  This amplifier always feels ready and able to take on whatever you can throw at it—which is exactly what I did.  The ProLogue Premium eliminates the hassle of owning a vacuum-tube-powered amplifier.  It even has a PTP circuit (for Power Transformer Protection) that will protect the amp’s output transformers, should you have an accidental, catastrophic tube failure, which can happen with today’s tubes.

PrimaLuna has updated the front-end circuitry for this amp, which now uses 12AU7 tubes instead of the 12AX7s in the company’s earlier amplifiers.  The inveterate tweak-geek in me could not resist fooling with those 12AU7s, even though the amp sounds great with stock tubes.  New old stock GE tubes render a smoother top-end response, but offer a different listening perspective, as if I had moved back about five rows in the orchestra.  Next, a set of RCA clear tops (with side getters, for the tubeophiles in the audience) provides a big jump in frequency extension, as well as more transparency and a more palpable midrange.  Best of all, Kevin Deal, the owner of Upscale Audio (and the PrimaLuna importer) has a massive cache of these tubes in stock, so you can experiment at will; the 12AU7s aren’t nearly the cost of the 12AX7s. When asked, Deal said that he has “over 10,000 rare and NOS 12AU7s.”

Be aware, I achieved these results with my system; so don’t take them as an absolute, as results will vary on other systems.  But that’s the fun of an amplifier like this:  You can experiment as much or as little as you want—and we haven’t even talked about swapping output tubes.  Don’t forget to save those stock tubes just in case you find yourself lost in the vacuum-tube jungle.

Love at First Listen

Brian Bromberg’s closely miked contrabass in “The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers,” from his Wood album, instantly confirms the level of full-bodied bass definition the ProLogue Premium provides.  In addition to the solid low-end response, you can clearly hear the creaking and groaning of the instrument, as well as the strings being plucked and slapped on the fretboard.  I’ve never heard this kind of resolution from a vintage Dynaco Stereo 70 (or modded variation on the theme).

Muddy Waters’ album Folk Singer proves a perfect midrange showcase for this amp, which places Waters’ voice firmly at center stage, while simultaneously revealing the ambience in the recording studio present on this intimate performance.  Perhaps the best showcase of any tube amplifier is its ability to convey the sultriness of the female voice, which is another test that the ProLogue Premium passes handily.  I listen to the entire disc of Renée Fleming’s Haunted Heart without pause.  The track “When Did You Leave Heaven?” gives Fleming and the accompanying guitar, courtesy of Bill Frisell, plenty of space without missing a lick of subtlety.

And Secondly

It’s usually a given that vacuum-tube amplifiers excel at revealing low-level detail and vocal tonality, but the ProLogue Premium performs equally well with larger-scale music.  Nelson Riddle’s Nice ‘n’ Easy: The Music of Nelson Riddle is a classic big-band record full of massed horns, which the ProLogue Premium sails through, keeping the horns sorted without becoming harsh or buried in the mix—impressive.

The acid test comes via the Minutemen’s “One Reporter’s Opinion,” from the Double Nickels on the Dime disc.  D. Boon’s AK-47-style guitar playing is present in all its force, Mike Watt’s fluid bass is easy to follow and drummer George Hurley’s seems to punch a hole in my forehead—the PrimaLuna delivers all of this while giving the track the precision and grit on the scale it deserves.  No matter how complex the musical selections, this amplifier does an excellent job keeping pace.

I’m a Fan!

I’m taken with this little but heavy amplifier, and can see why our publisher has been an advocate of PrimaLuna since day one.  This amp takes everything I throw at it in stride—always musical, always eager and always evenly balanced in overall presentation.  As with the other PrimaLuna products, the Premium stereo amp represents good value.  This is the perfect power amp for a music lover wanting to assemble a high performance system on a tight budget.  The ProLogue Premium is worth every penny.

I will say that one must be realistic when pairing the Premium with his or her speakers and listening environment.  Although the volume levels I’m able to achieve with this amp in my largish room are quite satisfying, 35 watts only go so far—even great watts such as these.  The amp does clip slightly when I get lead-footed with the volume.  To its credit, when the amp does clip, it does so with gentle compression instead of just falling apart.  To this point, speakers that are in the 90-plus-dB category will make for optimum system synergy in most rooms.

Additional Listening

By Jeff Dorgay

As Jerold mentioned, I’ve been listening to PrimaLuna amplifiers since the company introduced the original ProLogue One almost 10 years ago.  It’s almost like TONEAudio and PrimaLuna have grown up together.  That original amplifier is still in my family and, with a replacement set of power tubes, it keeps playing music on a daily basis without bother.

It’s been fun watching the PrimaLuna products evolve over the years into a more fleshed out line, with each model revealing more music than the one before.  Putting the ProLogue Premium stereo power amp through its paces is a joy, with the matching preamplifier and a few other examples I have on hand.  If you don’t need a built-in phonostage (and like your garanimals to match), the $2,199 ProLogue Premium Preamplifier makes for killer a setup with the Premium power amp.  The preamp is perfectly matched to the power amp electrically and stylistically, and pairing the two together will easily fool you and your friends into thinking you spent a lot more scratch on your system.  Many of my old-school buddies were having visions of vintage McIntosh in their heads, when I had this PrimaLuna combo connected to a mint pair of JBL L100 speakers.

Cranking up Judas Priest’s Screaming for Vengeance (on the matching PrimaLuna CD player we reviewed a few months ago) is a little slice of heavy-metal heaven—for a minute I was worried I might just blow up those JBLs, like I did back in the day.  The smooth sound of this PrimaLuna front-end package does not disappoint.
Another, more modern speaker that is a spectacular match with 35 watts per channel of tube power is Vienna Acoustics’ Mozart Grand.  The speakers have a 90-dB-sensitivity rating and a very gentle first-order crossover, but the ProLogue never runs out of gas when powering them.  And at about $3,500 a pair, the Mozart speakers won’t put you in the poorhouse.  Those on a tighter budget, consider a pair of Vandersteen 1Cs, which have the same high sensitivity, but are only $1,200 a pair.

Back when Kevin Deal and I sold mid-fi gear in stereo shops reminiscent of the one in the movie Ruthless People (1986), we used to describe gear as being more suited to rock or classical, etc., etc.  But the PrimaLuna electronics are a little bit of magic:  They play everything well, yet they inject just enough of that tubey warmth to make the bulk of your music collection sound much better than you’d expect it to.  This is a godsend for those having a mostly digital music collection, MP3s or CDs.

For this amp, I took the time to swap output tubes.  A set of super high zoot NOS 6550s or a new set of EAT KT88s, both of which will set you back about $1,500, but fear not, there are tons of great new EL-34 tubes in the $25-$50 range that sound fantastic. The extra midrange warmth and liquidity they provide will have you wondering if you ever need another amp.  And should a tube fail at an inopportune moment, the Adaptive AutoBias will even keep the amp purring along with a mixed set of output tubes. You’d be surprised at how many hardcore audiophiles have gone full circle back to the simplicity of an EL-34 amplifier paired with moderately efficient speakers.  This is an amplifier you can either start your tube journey with, or live with happily ever after.

With vintage Luxman, Marantz and McIntosh tube amplifiers fetching crazy money on the used market these days (not to mention their questionable reliability), make your life easy:  Put a PrimaLuna Prologue Premium between your speakers and just dig it.  You’ll be glad you did.

PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium Stereo Power Amplifier

MSRP:  $2,299

www.primaluna-usa.com

Peripherals

Lynyrd Skynyrd built the genre of Southern Rock, brick by brick, with clever songwriting, badass lead guitar playing (with three lead guitarists), and sheer grit. Legendary producer Al Kooper created a masterpiece here, and it finally gets the treatment it deserves.

The gold band at the top of the record jacket, marked “Original Master Recording,” means the original master tape was used for the reissue. It only takes a cursory listen to an early MCA pressing, which sounds like a CD in comparison, to hear the increase in sound quality on this MoFi edition. Much like early Van Halen records, there is almost a non-existent bass line in the original, now replaced by a big, fat sound that anchors the rest of the rhythm section and provides a proper foundation. And yes, there’s more cowbell too.

It might have been easier to dismiss this band if listening to the poorer original, but with so many sonic treats liberated from the mix, it’s great fun finding all the tidbits you’ve never heard over the years.  The bongos in “Gimme Three Steps” are but one example. The overall sound is so much more clean and dynamic, you just can’t turn this one up too loud. You haven’t lived until you hear the reverb-laden guitars on “Freebird.”  -Jeff Dorgay

Get out your lighter and boogie.  Do it.

Mobile Fidelity, 180g LP

For a number of reasons, it’s always tough to get a full read on any speakers’ performance at a show, although the Estelon XA was the most interesting new speaker I heard this fall at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.  The seductive, curvy shape immediately caught my eye, and I paused on seeing the ceramic drivers.  No sooner had my mind passed judgment that these were just another set of ceramic driver speakers that wouldn’t rock, I heard some fairly dynamic music and drew a different conclusion.

Estelon designer and founder of the company Alfred & Partners, Alfred Vassilkov has been creating speakers and crossover networks for other companies for the past 25 years, and he is finally bringing a product to market under his own name that is 100 percent his vision.  When the concept for these speakers was born in 2006, Vassilkov faced a dilemma: there was no enclosure material available that would suffice for his ultimate design.  Now, with a new marble-based composite material that Vassilkov has patented, his concept has been born.

This exotic, computer-modeled shape is cast as one solid piece, much like the monocoque tub for a Formula 1 car, and then coated with multiple coats of an automotive finish.  The Estelon speakers are available in gloss or matte black. Our review pair arrived in the matte finish, which looks similar to the matte finish on the newest models from Lamborghini and Range Rover.  While robots were initially employed to apply the finish, they could not produce cabinets that were up to Vassilkov’s high standards, so the robots were abandoned in favor of some highly skilled humans.  The photos truly do not do these cabinets justice; the matte finish is seductive in person.

The Estelon XA is a three-way design, using all-ceramic Accutron drivers, a 1.2-inch tweeter, a 7-inch midrange and the latest 11-inch woofer.  They have a single set of binding posts and weigh about 190 pounds each.  MSRP is $43,900 per pair, which  includes delivery, setup and a pair of custom-made flight cases that are laser cut on the inside to fit the speakers snugly.

Simple Setup

Though the XA’s are a little tougher to move than a traditional wood speaker because of their curvy shape and slippery finish, they shouldn’t take long to place in your room.  My listening room is 16 feet deep and 24 feet wide, and while I began my listening where my GamuT S-9’s normally reside, the final placement ended up just slightly further apart, with the Estelons just over 10 feet from each other (tweeter center to tweeter center) and the front of the tweeters about 40 inches from the rear wall. Vassilkov and his European representative, William McIntosh, were kind enough to visit my studio and double check my setup.  After about an hour or so of their attention to detail, we were all convinced that the speakers were performing to the best of their ability in my room.

Their large base made them easy to slide around on my carpeted floor, and once the optimum spot was found, fitting the spikes gave the anticipated last bit of bass performance.  Minor movements of an inch here and there during the next few days after Alfred’s visit only confirmed that we had the speakers in the right spot in the first place!

The XA’s have a sensitivity of 89db/1watt, 4-ohm impedance and a suggested range of amplifier power from 20 to 200 watts.  They are indeed very easy to drive and I had no problem getting great sound with my freshly restored C-J MV50 tube power amplifier that only produces 45 watts per channel.  Again, thanks to the chameleon-like characteristic of these speakers, you will be able to enjoy whatever kind of amplification you have, so you won’t have to go amplifier shopping to accommodate your new speakers.

While about eight different amplifiers were used in the evaluation, the majority of my listening was done with the solid-state Burmester 911 mk.3 (and later a pair of 911’s) and the all-vacuum-tube Octave ME 130 monoblocks.  I found these amplifiers to be extremely tube friendly and easy to fine tune with different cable.  I tried the latest from Kubala Sosna (which is also used for internal wiring), Cardas Clear, AudioQuest Sky and my reference Shunyata Aurora cable, all with excellent luck.  Each cable set exhibited its own characteristics, and each seemed to suit a particular amplification choice slightly better than the other, making the XA’s easy to fine tune to perfection.

The Sound

I found their lack of coloration, while maintaining a high level of coherence, the XA’s strongest suit.  As a panel-speaker enthusiast, coherence is one of my biggest hot buttons,  and the XA’s delivered this in spades.  Precious few cone speakers that I’ve heard at any price can truly pull this off, so I came away highly impressed with this aspect of these speakers’ performance.

In the past, other speakers I’ve heard with the Accuton drivers have never floated my boat, for lack of a terribly technical description.  They either have sounded too forward or somewhat restrained; great with classical music at moderate level but not a speaker that could really rock out with conviction.  The Estelon’s shattered this belief; they always maintained a balance between being resolving yet natural with the ability to play any music as loud as I wanted to.

As someone who typically listens to music in 8-12 hour shifts, a fatiguing speaker will reveal itself quickly, and the XA’s passed this test with flying colors.  This is a wonderfully open speaker that you can listen to for days on end.  I was reminded of the MartinLogan CLX’s time and time again because of the XA’s transparency and ease of delivery.

The Bottom

One of the first test tracks queued up was Tom Jones’ “What Good Am I,” from his current album, Praise and Blame. Jones’ voice is closely miked and this is one of those recordings in which you can hear him breathing in the room, full of emotion.  It’s a sparse arrangement, with Jones accompanied by acoustic guitar and a pounding kettle drum that will rattle your ribs if your system is up to the task.  The XA’s excelled, reproducing this drum with the necessary texture to avoid the “one-note bass” effect, capturing the attack and decay with ease.

Before investigating a few more of my favorite bass-laden tracks, one more Tom Jones cut was in order, “Style and Rhythm” from his last album, 24 Hours. Though not as exquisitely recorded as his current record, this is a great track to crank up loud and dole out some speaker punishment.  With a pair of Burmester 911 mk. 3’s in monoblock mode and about 800 watts per channel on tap, it was no problem even at ear splitting levels.

After running through the usual bass test/torture tracks, including everything from the Telarc 1812 overture LP to my favorite electronica tracks, the Estelon XA’s remained unrattled.  There was nothing I could throw at these speakers that caused them to stumble.

The Top

Because the ceramic tweeter is very revealing, you may find that less-than-exceptional electronics are not up to the task.  I assure you that after living with these speakers for some time and auditioning everything from a vintage Pioneer receiver all the way up to the Burmester 911 monoblocks, I could hear exactly what my gear is capable of producing, especially in the upper registers.

I would categorize the upper-frequency tonality as revealing and perhaps ever so slightly forward, yet without grain. A little too much zip in the cable or amplifier realm might be too much of a good thing with the XA’s, but warm and gooey isn’t the answer either; this only makes the speakers sound slow and muddled.

Again, the ESL-like speed of the XA’s gave cymbals the correct amount of tone and decay without sounding harsh or overly brilliant. Art Blakey’s drumming on Lee Morgan’s Tom Cat was sublime through these speakers. I was grinning ear to ear after listening to a large selection of my favorite Blue Note remasters; these speakers definitely reveal the truth.

The Middle

Every audiophile has their hot button. Some want pinpoint imaging, others want subterranean bass and 10 others want something entirely different. But for me, a speaker lives and dies with correct midrange.  Of course, all of the other aspects of HiFi reproduction are great fun; I just can’t live with a speaker long term if it can’t get the midrange as close to perfect as possible.

Without a boring you with the minutiae of a long punch list of favorites, suffice to say that these speakers nail the midband, another testament to a perfect integration of cabinet, crossover design and careful choice of drivers.  Upon listening to “Lay Your Hands on Me” from the 45 rpm, 200-gram Clarity Vinyl pressing of Peter Gabriel’s Security, Macintosh remarked, “I”ve never heard that track sound this good.”  This is the level of tonal accuracy that justifies the five-figure price tag.

Low and high level dynamics

The Estelon XA’s provide engaging performance at any volume level, another aspect that can be attributed to the world’s finest speakers.  Even when listening to music that you could easily speak over, the stereo image does not collapse and there isn’t a volume level that the speakers suddenly “come alive.”  While there is a definite level at extremely high level that the speaker finally starts to compress, it is much higher than is reasonable and prudent for 99 percent of us.  The one thing that could lead to trouble with these speakers is that they are so clean right up to the point where the stereo image starts to flatten; they might be damaged by an amplifier that does not have a lot of clean power in reserve.  If you really like to rock, pay careful attention to your choice of amplifier and err on the side of too much rather than too little power.  Come to think of it, when rocking out, can you really have too much power?

The outstanding MoFi pressing of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” will tell you everything you need to know about the low-level dynamics of these speakers.  At the beginning of the track as Gaye is starting his intro rap, you can hear a number of other people in the background, all on different layers, and when he starts to sing, the myriad vocal layers are easily distinguishable.  Again, this is in full effect from low to high volume.

The lack of grain and overhang that the combination of drivers, crossover and cabinet contribute (or perhaps distract from) the presentation is instantly apparent while listening to violin and piano.  One of my favorite test records of recent months is The Jung Trio: Dvorak Trio In F Minor Op.65, available on SACD or 45 rpm LP from Groove Note Records.  The speed and tonal purity required to reproduce the violin and piano are one of the greatest challenges to a speaker system, provided the electronics are up to the task.  The XA’s played this recording flawlessly and was one of a very short list of speakers that almost fooled me into thinking these ladies were performing in my room.

Depending on whether your taste in music takes you to a heavy-rock band or a full-scale orchestra, you will not be disappointed in the XA’s with either type of program material.  I had just as much fun listening to Mahler as I did Van Halen, and I never felt that the speakers were running out of juice.

A very special addition to the high-end loudspeaker world

Though Alfred & Partners is a new company, it comes built on years of experience in the field.  The fanatical attention to detail shows what can be accomplished when a great driver set is combined with cutting-edge materials and design.  We give these speakers our highest recommendation and look forward to listening to some more of Estelon’s creations in the months to follow.  This is a pair of speakers that I could not fault in any way, no matter what music I listened to.

And if you’d like to get a substantial helping of what I heard during my evaluation, stop by Estelon’s room in Las Vegas at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, where the speakers will be showed with the same Burmester 089 preamplifier and 911 mk. 3 power amplifiers that were used for this review.

The Estelon XA Speakers

MSRP:  $43,900  per pair (US)

€ 29.900 per pair (Europe)

Alfred & Partners, Estonia

www.estelon.com

Peripherals

Dynaudio’s reputation for coaxing great sound from a small cabinet remains intact with the Xeo 3 speakers, which add wireless operation to the mix, as do the floorstanding Xeo 5s.  This is indeed an exciting prospect for those not wanting to deal with a traditional amplifier-preamplifier-DAC setup, or the looming cable mess.  For Dynaudio’s Xeo speakers, the term “wireless” is only slightly misleading, as AC power is still required and you still need to connect a small interface to your computer, but you can kiss interconnects and speaker cables goodbye!

Pre-flight Check

The modestly sized Xeo 3s are 7 inches wide, 10 inches deep and 11 inches tall, and are available in white or black, with either glossy or satin finishes.  The front grilles disguise a 5-inch woofer and 1-inch soft dome tweeter derived from Dynaudio’s Excite X12.  This small size allows for multiple placement options.  Our art director has been using them as near-field desktop speakers for some time now with excellent success.  (I received a Marge Simpson growl as I pried them away from her for this review.)

Those preferring to mount the speakers on stands will have the best results using 24- to 30-inch-tall stands, which will keep the tweeter close to ear height.  The speakers’ rear-firing port does not interfere with operation when close to the wall, so placement on a tabletop or desktop also works well. Dynaudio offers its Stand 3X matching stands (available in gloss black, gloss white, matte black or silver finish), which feature cable management for the Xeo power cord and retails for $350 per pair.  If using the speakers on a tabletop, desktop or shelf, I advise placing something small, soft and squishy beneath the speakers to act a buffer between the woofer and said surface. Dynaudio markets its SF1 speaker foot base for $85 per pair as a solution for such applications.

The Xeos have an MSRP of $1,950, with the wireless transmitter costing an extra $350.  It’s worth noting that operating the speakers does not require interfacing them with your current Wi-Fi setup; they have their own direct 2.4-GHz wireless connection from the transmitter to the speakers.  Plugging the transmitter directly into your computer eliminates the need for the provided power supply, which further minimizes desktop clutter.

While a nearly $2,000 price tag might seem high at first for a pair of compact speakers, the Xeo 3s are each equipped with a pair of 50-watt onboard power amplifiers – one for the woofer and one for the tweeter.   Because the digital amplifiers integrated into the speakers is a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) design, it recalculates the incoming digital signal data in a way that the drivers see the data much like an analog sine wave.  This offers the least amount of signal conversion loss, but does limit the files that can be played to 24 bit/48khz.  Dynaudio’s well-written manual will take you through the full setup in just a few minutes.  I run Windows 7, and my initial trepidation melts away, as the Xeo 3s’ setup requires just a few mouse clicks; our art director concurs that the Mac side is equally trouble free.

Setting a Course

There are a few switches on the back of the speaker boxes with which you will need to familiarize yourself.  The power switch activates the 50-watt built-in amps; once the speakers are on, the remote puts them in low-power standby mode when the speakers are not in use.

The speakers also sport a few other switches, which enable various usage scenarios.  You can designate each speaker as either a right or left channel module in a stereo setup, or you can use them both in mono mode.  When using the Xeos as a main stereo pair, or as rear speakers in a home-theater setup, one left and one right speaker are the obvious choice.  For those wishing to fill a larger space with sound, or those not worried about stereo imaging, the speakers can be set to mono—a cool feature if you need sound reinforcement for a party.

Note that each pair of Xeos has one speaker with a small blue LED light behind the grille, which blinks to acknowledge that the remote signal is active.  While the speakers communicate with each other to preserve the same volume level, there is no volume control on the speakers themselves—so don’t lose the remote!

Multiple pairs of Xeos offer enormous versatility for those wanting sound throughout their listening space.  A second toggle switch on the rear panel of the speakers assigns one of three zones—A, B or C—and each transmitter can be assigned to any of the zones.  All speakers can be set to receive the audio signal from one transmitter and one source, thereby playing the same content on all of them.  Alternately, you can plug different sources into different transmitters (purchased separately) and assign that audio signal to any speaker pair.

These scenarios facilitate, for example, playing computer-based music on one pair of Xeos in a bedroom, while the main room hosts a movie from your DVD or Blu-ray Disc player.  The volume of the Xeo pair in each room can be adjusted independently by their respective remotes.  Again, refer to the well-illustrated manual for setup assistance.

Born to Fly

The Xeo 3s perform beyond what their small size might initially suggest.  The internal amplifiers are well matched to the speakers, optimizing the sound produced and ultimately offering great value.  As with all the other Dynaudio speakers I’ve experienced, the hallmark ease and midrange clarity of the brand is well intact here.  The richness of Anjani’s voice on the title track to her 2006 album, Blue Alert, alongside the delicate and tuneful rendering of piano and saxophone notes, demonstrates just how well the Xeo solution works to create a satisfying musical experience.

Waldeck’s “Slowly” illustrates the Xeo 3’s ability to generate solid, dynamic bass, despite its small enclosure.  Magma’s “Horn Antenna” further reveals the low-frequency capability of these speakers.  Again, table mounting will add a little bit of LF gain and grunt, but at a slight loss of imaging finesse.  The speakers reproduce the other end of the spectrum with equal ease and precision.  The cymbal strikes in Norfolk & Western’s “Letters Opened in the Bar” illustrate a gentle ring and delicate decay.

Further listening with recent Blue Note releases on XRCD confirms the ease with which the Xeo 3s handle acoustic instruments.  The gentle vocal styling present on Jakob Dylan’s first solo effort, Seeing Things, combined with the acoustic guitar on the opening track, “Evil is Alive and Well,” demonstrates the large sound space these speakers can reproduce without losing the delicacy of the track to wireless transmission.

The only restriction to the Xeo system is the 24-bit/48-kHz limit of incoming files; for now, those with major high-resolution music collections will not be able to enjoy full-bandwidth audio with a Xeo system.  The Dynaudio Xeo 3 speakers present great value, fantastic sound and excellent build quality to the music lover who is perhaps not ready to go for a full-blown audiophile system, but who is dissatisfied with the similarly priced wireless offerings from Sonos, B&O and Bose.   In this respect, the Dynaudio Xeo 3 is miles ahead of the competition in terms of its natural delivery and tonal finesse.

Addidional Listening

By Jeff Dorgay

Of course I had to torture these speakers with some Iron Maiden, Slayer, Van Halen and Zeppelin just to see if they could take it.  And like the Confidence C1 IIs I’ve been using as a reference in room two for a year now, these tiny Danish marvels rock the house—or in this case, my desk.  Using the Xeo 3s on either side of my 30-inch Apple Cinema Display makes me wonder why anyone would ever want a pair of headphones.

The mix is immersive, with the stereo image unfolding between me about a foot in front of my head, as I blast David Lee Roth’s “Ice Cream Man,” and then quickly segue to Maiden’s “Powerslave.”  The small, wireless Dynaudios provide fatigue-free listening during long photo-editing sessions, and underline just how much they have in common with the Confidence series.  This is where you can really reap the benefit of a compact speaker produced by a major speaker company that builds its own drivers, and that possesses extensive research and design capabilities.  The technology trickle down is tough to ignore.

Even if the Xeo 3s don’t turn you into a sound-crazed audiophile right away (but they just might), don’t forget that analog input.  It’s a great way to augment the sound of your television, or perhaps sneak a turntable into the mix.  Plugging the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon table (paired with the Ortofon 2M Red cartridge and Lounge MM phonostage) into the Xeo expands my desktop/small-room experience tremendously.  Spinning some of my favorite albums in this space has me forgetting all about the high-res files on my Mac mini.

Everyone on the TONEAudio staff who had a chance to play with the Xeo 3s agrees that they are excellent in every way, from their subtle aesthetics to their ease of setup and use.  We are happy to award them one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2013.

The Dynaudio Xeo 3 Wireless Speakers

MSRP: $1,950 per pair; $350 for the Xeo wireless transmitter; $350 per pair for optional Dynaudio Stand 3X; $85 per pair for optional Dynaudio SF1 speaker foot.

Dynaudio

www.dynaudio.com

Peripherals

As class-D amplifiers continue to evolve, it’s exciting to have the opportunity to test examples such as IQ Audio’s new monoblock, dubbed the M300. While each M300 is very compact—7.75 inches wide, 7.75 inches deep and a 3.25 inches tall—the amps should not be taken, well, lightly.  Their physical size-to-sonic-punch ratio makes them a bit like the Sugar Ray Leonard of the amp world.  The M300s deliver a hefty 150 watts into 8 ohms, and 300 watts into 4 ohms.  According to IQ’s literature, the M300s can also handle loads in the 2-ohm range.  So at this price point—$1,495 per pair—you get a lot of watts per dollar.

Weighing In

My lower back confirms that the modest dimensions of the M300s make them a cinch to move and integrate into my audio system.  At a mere 7 pounds apiece, the M300s are easily tucked under each arm, leaving me with spring in my step as I move them to the listening area.

A Mark Levinson No. 335 amplifier, which weighs a spine-warping 150 pounds, normally inhabits the lowest shelf in my audio rack.  I prefer not to move this behemoth out of the way for review equipment if I can avoid it—as long as my guest amplifiers have a place that allows them good ventilation and vibration control.  The M300 packs a lot of technology into a small package. The M300 uses a software programmed micro-controller input and buffer stage, and a SMPS power supply that enables the M300 to deliver FTC rated power into both 4 and 8 ohms, i.e. not just peak power.

The tiny size of the M300 offers many placement options that larger amps do not.  In my case, each amp has a temporary residence perching atop a 26-inch-tall bookshelf speaker stand.  These improvised amp pillars present each of the M300s quite nicely as they display the subtle blue LED power-up ring complementing the amps’ matte-black facades.  After a few minutes examining and admiring my sonic visitors, the process of connecting them to the rest of the system begins.

Against the Ropes

The M300s use the manufacturer’s IQ-torque binding posts, which enable easy and solid connections for spade speaker-cable terminations. It’s worth mentioning that these binding posts are similar to the ones used on much more expensive Boulder and Pass amplifiers, and so much easier to work with than those plastic coated ones featured on many amplifiers today. IQ principal Bruce Weisberg mentions that they chose these binding posts for their sonic qualities as much as convenience – a nice touch for a $1,500 pair of amplifiers. Rather than twisting a small 5-way binding post by hand and then tightening it further with a post wrench, I’m able to easily tighten the M300s’ large key-shaped posts without using extra tools.  As I twist the posts, I can’t help but recall some of my favorite childhood wind-up toys.  Gentle ribbing aside, I personally love the choice IQ made with these posts and the firm connection they facilitate.  Once they are cranked down, nothing is coming loose.

However, this connection type may present a problem for some users:  First, there is no accommodation for banana plugs; and second, with such a low amp height, there is little space between the binding posts and the surface the amp rests on.  As a result, thick cables may require mounting to the binding post in a way that leaves the cables pointing outward or upward from the amp, providing the M300 with something of a rooster-tail.  With that in mind, other users may find that speaker stands like mine aren’t such a bad idea.

Accompanying the binding posts on the back panel of each amp are both RCA and balanced inputs, as well as plenty of room for the power cable of your choice and two 12-volt triggers.  Because of their versatility, these amps can evolve with your system as you acquire or replace new components. And the M300 comes with the IQ-kord power cable, which is a 15A power cable featuring hospital grade IEC plugs and EMI / RF isolators.

And for some economic and environmental peace of mind, the M300s have an Energy Star–rated efficiency.  They do not get warm and the power-handling technology that IQ built into them enables them to consume very little power while at idle.

Ring the Bell

The first thing you notice sonically about the M300s is the non-fatiguing way they present music.  Regardless of musical genre, the M300s avoid stridency.  They render jazz, classical, rock, and electronica very well, allowing the listener to sit back and enjoy the musical experience without the “wince factor” that some equipment creates.  I put these amps through the Four Johns test—that is, listening to Cash, Coltrane, Digweed and Philip Sousa—and the music retains the heart of the performances without harsh sonic artifacts.

The M300s bring to life the guitar plucks on “Give My Love to Rose,” from Johnny Cash’s American IV, with delicacy and richness.  While the amps tend to place the vocals into the mix a bit, they do render the song’s emotional content very well, accurately portraying the age and gravelly roughness in Cash’s voice.

They also render John Coltrane’s saxophone with clarity and grace.  Those who have sat near a live saxophone performance know that the sound can have a natural sharpness in some cases.  The M300s manage to reveal the detail of Coltrane’s performance without adding any harshness beyond that already inherent in the recording.  Through the M300s, the jazz legend’s album Blue Train is both engaging and relaxing.

Ready to Rumble

Fans of electronica know that bass punch and depth are necessary to get people out on the dance floor.  IQ claims a frequency response of 5 Hz to 45 kHz for the M300s, plus or minus 3 dB.  As I’m not able to get the dog next door howling at notes beyond the upper range of my hearing, I can’t verify sound above 20 kHz.  I can say with conviction, however, that the bass indeed goes very deep.  In addition to low-frequency test tracks verifying an audible and tangible 20 Hz rumble in my room, John Digweed’s remix of “Warung Beach” illustrates the M300s ability to provide plenty of get-up-and-go.

Recordings of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” conducted by John Philip Sousa offer varying degrees of audio quality, so I cheat a bit on my theme by deferring to recordings by modern conductors.  Here, the M300s do a very nice job of revealing the dynamic contrasts of the various instruments.  Flute notes dance through the air with delicacy; cymbals have a solid crash and a slow decay; and brass instruments are easily identified.  In a recording like this, adequate power is necessary to get the heft of the performance through my speakers—and the M300s do not disappoint.

Facing Heavyweight Contenders

So what’s the downside?  Unfairly comparing the M300s with my $8,000 reference amplifier (over five times the price of the IQ pair) reveals a few shortcomings that seem aptly illustrated with an analogy:

Viewers can appreciate Monet’s lily paintings differently depending on their distance from the canvas.  At 20 feet away, the colors, shapes and scenery are pleasant to experience as a whole.  But when viewed from just a few feet away, the painting’s impressionistic brush strokes reveal a texture and detail not detectable from further away, allowing for a deeper and more nuanced level of appreciation.  Once seeing the painting up close and in person, it’s difficult to appreciate scaled-down images of the same painting in a book, which do not portray the detail that you know is there.

Similarly, the M300’s sonic portrayal places the listener a metaphorical 20 feet from the music, leaving him or her a well-rendered sonic picture, but one that lacks some of the detail that my reference amp provides: organic realism, pinpoint imaging, a three-dimensional soundstage with width and depth, ambiance and front-to-back layering of instruments and vocals, along with a very quiet, black background.

While the M300s do an exceptional job delivering very deep bass, these low-register responses are not as tight, defined or tuneful as those delivered through my reference amp.  Again, these characteristics are something I’d expect from amplifiers at a higher price point.  I do not expect the same level of quality from a pair of monos in the $1,500 price range.

The Verdict

For everything that they do well, the M300s provide great value.  IQ made smart decisions in the designing and voicing of these amps.  They offer durable ease of use, stellar energy efficiency, enjoyable and non-fatiguing portrayal of music, the power needed to drive challenging speaker loads, and a neutral sonic profile that renders all types of music quite well.

At $1,500 per pair, the M300s are certainly worth an audition.  And the great news is that IQ sells direct from its website and stands squarely behind its products with a 30-day audition period for anyone who makes a purchase.  With this risk-free guarantee, why not decide for yourself if the M300s are a good fit for your system?  For this price, I think you’ll find that this pair of amps is a knockout.

Additional Listening

By Jeff Dorgay

Rob has made excellent points, and after some time with these tiny amplifiers, I concur with his assessment.  However, here are a few more points to ponder:

When purchasing a power amplifier in the $1,000-to-$2,000 range, there are always tradeoffs to be made.  And though there are a few integrated amps, like the Naim UnitiQute or the Rega Brio-R, that come across as slightly more palpable—especially through the midband—there’s no substitute for cubic inches (or, in this case, power).

More power on tap gives you more speaker options.  The M300s can drive a pair of Magnepan MMGs or 1.6/1.7s, while the two others either can’t (Naim) or only can to a point (Rega).  Sure, Class D amps, while having come a long way tonally in the last few years, can still sound a little sterile—and there’s nothing like a great tube preamplifier to warm that up a bit.  The IQ 300s actually use selected discrete mosfets in the output stage, another contributor to their musical nature. So I did just that, with the recently rebuilt Conrad-Johnson PV-12 and its full compliment of CJD Teflon capacitors under the hood.  The extra body of an older tube pre like this one goes a long way to bridge the timber gap between the M300s and my Magnepans.  The result sounds fantastic, especially in light of the M300’s price.

IQ Audio M300 Monoblocks

MSRP: $1,495 per pair

IQ Audio Corporation

www.iqaudiocorp.com

Peripherals

One of the toughest things audio enthusiasts face is knowing when to stop hunting for a different piece of gear. How many times have you planted your feet, determined to stick with your favorite preamplifier du jour, only to fall in love with a new power amplifier that needs XLR inputs where previously, you only had RCAs or vice-versa? Perhaps a second turntable makes sense, but you don’t want to abandon your current phono preamplifier for something different that only has one input. And so it goes.

I’ve always enjoyed Naim’s modular concept of adding a larger power supply to increase a system’s performance, but German manufacturer Octave takes things even further, allowing you the option of choosing your input sources as well as your output choices. And, like Octave’s power amplifiers, there is an external power supply upgrade, which in this case, is a passive device that offers additional capacitance. Old timers may remember this arrangement in the Dynaco Stereo 400 power amplifier.

Many Modules

Octave’s Phono Module and power supply sell for $4,500, but the price does not include any input or output modules. One high-level input module can be switched between XLR or RCA jacks, which makes for an extremely versatile option. You get three different choices exist for the phono inputs. The MM module with RCA inputs offers 38db of gain, with 1k and 47k input impedance, and costs $450. Two (RCA and Balanced ) options exist for the MC modules, offering 58 or 65db (switchable) gain along with a subsonic filter that can be enabled, with a 3db cut at 20hz. Loading is adjustable in 13 steps, from 62 ohms to 1000 ohms.  There is one MM module with 38db of gain, with 1k and 47k loading settings. The aforementioned modules sell for $600 each and are preset with the subsonic filter engaged. Finally, the standard MM and MC modules both feature RCA jacks, but there is also an optional module with a set of balanced XLR inputs that provides the best performance in terms of lowest noise—provided you don’t mind switching to a balanced input cable for your tonearm.

Should you need a high-level input, add a module. While you can only use one input at a time, this $600 board features an XLR and RCA input that’s switchable via a small pushbutton. And, there are three choices for output modules: A standard RCA version is $450 with fixed and variable outputs; two DD (direct drive) modules are designed to drive a power amplifier directly, making the Phono Module a full-function preamplifier. The latter carry an $800 pricetag, and come with a choice of two RCA outputs or one RCA and one XLR.

Take a deep breath and sort your options; these choices make the Phono Module sell for somewhere between $5,400 and $7,500, depending on configuration. Plus, you can always change the setup. For more configuration information, visit this link to the Octave site, with all the specs along with more pictures:

http://www.octave.de/en/htdocs/verstaerker/phonomodule.php

Setup and Configuration

When you’ve made your final module decisions, remove the corresponding blank panels with a Phillips screwdriver and gently insert the modules. To make things user-friendlier, Octave has given the output module one more pin than the input modules so you can’t make a mistake. The pins going into the main circuit board must be tightened down with a jeweler’s (or other very small straight blade) screwdriver. Install the tubes, connect the external power supply, and you are ready to roll. The Octave manual is one of the most concise I’ve had the pleasure of reading, so even a novice audiophile will have no trouble assembling the Phono Module.  And, should you change your mind in the future – the module configuration can be easily changed, that’s the beauty of the Phono Module.

Regardless of your configuration, there will be three tubes on the main circuit board. The ECC88 (6922) is used for the output buffer, an ECC81 (12AT7) makes up the main amplification stage, and an ECC83 (12AX7) is used for the input stage. Octave suggests using “a high quality, low noise” tube for the latter position; the Phono Module came with a set of JJs installed. The DD output module in the review unit also had an ECC88 on board, making for a total of four tubes under the hood.

The Phono Module is a hybrid design that uses high-quality, low-noise Op amps for additional buffering where needed. Designer Andreas Hoffman made the decision to keep the output impedance low, but as a side benefit, the overall noise floor is very low as well. A number of manufacturers have taken this approach to incorporate the tonality of vacuum tubes with the flexibility of solid state. The resulting tonal balance is very neutral—perhaps too much so for vacuum-tube enthusiasts that want an abundance of bloom. If you didn’t know better, you might not even think the Phono Module had tubes inside. The Octave is close to perfection: It doesn’t sound like tubes or solid state, just music, and can be adjusted to your taste.

Thanks to the Octave’s wide range of gain and loading adjustments, I easily optimized my plethora of phono cartridges. After a number of trials, I settled on the Denon 103R with the AVID Volvere SP/Triplanar and the SoundSmith Sussurro Paua with the Rega P9.

Who Says You Can’t Make a Great First Impression?

Listening began with Robert Plant’s current LP, Band of Joy. I was immediately taken by the excellent portrayal of space offered by the Phono Module, which kept Plant’s voice well separated than that of support singer Patti Griffith, without ever causing her to fall into the background of the mix. Even with the budget Denon cartridge, the sound was spacious, with excellent bass control. While planning to jam some classic Plant (via Classic Records’ remasters of the Led Zeppelin catalog), I got sidetracked by the doorbell and our music-loving UPS deliveryman. When he spotted the ORB’s Metallic Spheres LP inside a box he handed me, he felt like parking the brown van and hanging out for a while. We traded Pink Floyd stories for a few minutes and he assured me that the bass on the ORB record was killer. “I don’t even own a CD player,” he proudly said, but I finally convinced him he had to deliver everyone else’s packages or else my neighbors would be torqued at what brown wasn’t doing for them today.

However, such passion made for a good excuse to pass on Zeppelin and spin the ORB. The UPS dude was right: the record does have excellent bass, and the Phono Module did a fantastic job of capturing the impact of the deep, synth bass throughout. No matter what I played, the Phono Module always had plenty of weight on tap.

Stepping up to the SoundSmith Sussurro Paua proved a good combination even if it offered a bit too much of a good thing for my system. There was resolution galore, yet the overall presentation came across as slightly two-dimensional, sounding remotely digital—almost more like a great 24/96 digital recording rather than pure analog. The AVID Acutus Reference SP with Koetsu Urushi Blue was exactly what I was looking for, a combination of high resolution and a small helping of tonal warmth. It made many a classic rock favorite come alive. MoFi’s pressing of Santana exploded with the Koetsu and, as it’s already extremely quiet, the cartridge supplied great dynamic contrast.

Great as a Phono Preamplifier or a Linestage

Thanks to the RCA and XLR outputs, the Phono Module worked well with the amplifiers at my disposal, its neutral character staying true with every power amplifier with which it was mated. It’s also worth noting that it didn’t have any problem driving fairly long (6-meter) interconnects through either the RCA or XLR outputs. And while it achieved more magic with Octave’s MRE 130 monoblock amplifiers (as you might expect), you should be able to smoothly blend the Phono Module with your current power amplifier.

The Power Module represents the best choice for the analog lover with two turntables and only one digital source—or even the analog purist who doesn’t require a high level input and instead wants to go directly to a power amplifier. Initially, I thought its only shortcoming was its inability to allow adjustment of the three phono inputs (ala the Aesthetix Rhea or ARC REF 2 Phono) from the listening chair. But then I concluded that I was just being a lazy American. Extra microprocessor controls would add to the cost and designer Andreas Hofmann feels that this would degrade the sound somewhat.  In retrospect, Octave made the right choice. At its current price, the Phono Module has few—if any—peers. Pushing it towards $10k would invite stiffer competition.

Time to Roll

Excellent as the Phono Module is in stock form, upgrading the tubes brings tremendous sonic benefits regardless of your preference. Variations on the input tube will effect the overall noise floor more than the other tubes (hence Octave’s suggestion at using a very low-noise tube here) and the output tube seems to impact the overall tonal character more than the other two. Ditto if you have the DD module installed, using the Phono Module as a linestage as well. The buffer stage did not make as much difference, but in all fairness, there aren’t many exotic 12AT7s on the market.

Should you prefer a bit warmer, more romantic sound, the NOS route is the way to go. Your favorite Mullard or Telefunken tubes will give the Phono Module more midrange magic but sacrifice high end extension and even a little bit of bass definition.  There’s no free lunch. If you enjoy the character with the stock tubes, but would like more resolution, I suggest the EAT tubes. These are definitely my favorite favorites, offering incredible detail, super low noise, and a big overall sound. If you only feel like buying one $225 tube, replace the input tube—it further drops the noise floor in this already super-quiet preamplifier. A bonus if you have a premium phono cartridge.

The external power supply booster, the only option I didn’t explore, is still in the design phase.  If it performs anything like the Super Black Box on the Octave MR 130 monoblock amplifiers currently in for review, it will take the Phono Module another large step forward in performance.

Superlative Performance

Regardless of your needs, if you have more than one turntable or plan on adding more than one in the near future, making the Octave Phono Module the cornerstone of your system won’t leave you painted in the corner. Its understated exterior design and overbuilt interior assure that it will perform flawlessly as your system changes. Without question, this is definitely a preamplifier with which you can grow for years to come. We are happy to award it one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2011.  -Jeff Dorgay

The Octave Phono Module

MSRP:  $5,400 to $7,500 (depending on configuration)

Contact:  www.octave.de (Manufacturer)

www.dynaudiousa.com (US Importer)

Peripherals

Three of my favorite things come in bright blue: Smurfs, rare Porsche 911’s (only a few came from the factory in Mexico Blue), and Koetsu’s Urushi Sky Blue phono cartridge. To most audiophiles, Koetsu summons up a vision of analog exotica that defies definition and affordability. Produced by hand and in small quantities, these Japanese beauties are the stuff of waiting lists and privilege, with the cost of top models inching towards $20,000. But you don’t have to drop five figures to get a substantial helping of what Koetsu offers.

Every Koetsu cartridge features hand-wound coils and hand-carved bodies from various woods and stone, which determine the ultimate tonality of each model. Various models use different wire for coil windings, and alternate magnet materials give each a unique sound. The lacquer finishes even impact the final result. Here, the Urushi Sky Blue utilizes a rosewood body with Samarium-Cobalt magnets and a set of silver-plated coils. Packaged in a simple but elegant wooden box, it runs $4,300.

Tech Basics and Setup

The Sky Blue is a low-compliance cartridge (5 x 10-6 cm/dyne) that works best in higher-mass arms. I achieved very distinctive results in two tonearm/turntable combinations at my disposal. The Avid Acutus Reference SP/SME V offered better dynamics and more weight, with the cartridge exhibiting tremendous low-level detail thanks to the nonexistent level of mechanical noise. The Rega P9 proved completely different, with plenty of pace and inner detail, but somewhat less definition and a mellower lower register. Warmth definitely crept in, but at the expense of resolution. Overall, very pleasing, but this cartridge changes its character depending on the platform on which it is mounted—and more drastically than others that I’ve tried.

Suggested tracking force is listed at 1.8 – 2.2 grams and, true to form, I found optimal tracking to be just slightly past 1.9 grams. It’s worth noting that this cartridge is relatively easy to set up and not as sensitive as some with regards to ultra-fine adjustment. And it still gave a great showing slightly off the optimum setup point. Output is a low, but not unreasonable .4mv, so it should be compatible with most high-gain phono preamplifiers (about 60db and up). I preferred 200 ohm loading with the ARC REF 2 Phono, with 500 ohms a bit dark. I experienced similar results using the AVID Pulsare phonostage.

Chameleon-Like

Balance and delicacy are the Sky Blue’s key qualities. At first listen, it’s easy to dismiss the Urushi as slightly soft, but it doesn’t take long to realize that you are hearing tonal gradations, often more subtly than ever before. Most of my Koetsu experience has come with friends’ SME 20 and 30 tables. I admit that I was somewhat taken aback when fitting it to the AVID Acutus Reference SP. The presentation was transformed, replete with a full measure of nuance (this, I was used to) but with an extra level of dynamics (this, I was not).

Moving through various music food groups with familiar material again revealed a level of fine detail without being too forward or harsh. My personal bias tends to favor just about anything that is ever so slightly on the warm side of neutral. Warm, slow, and syrupy gets boring, especially on a high-resolution system. But let’s face it: Most records boast less-than-phenomenal sonics, which is why you need more than one table/arm cartridge setup.

However, because most records are less than perfect, the Koetsu makes a fantastic daily driver. Although I have a couple of cartridges that have more ultimate resolution and are incredible with ideal recordings, I can’t play the first Boston album with either of them. “Foreplay/Long Time” sounds awesome when played on the Koetsu, and this is a true test of a cartridge’s merit.  Throw some of your worst-sounding records at a phono cartridge to see what it’s made of, I say. Patricia Barber sounds great on just about any analog setup, but who cares? And even if you are a classical music lover, chances are you’ve got a pile of recordings that are far from perfect. The Sky Blue’s slightly rich character goes a long way at making mid-80s DG recordings more palatable.

On the pop front, listening to Yim Yames’ Tribute to… was a treat. It’s exactly the kind of music with which this cartridge excels. Yames’ vocals and mandolin balance perfectly, and with an added bit of ambience lost on a few lesser cartridges, the overall presentation was extremely realistic and made me feel as if I were sitting in an empty theater, tenth-row center. The banjo performance on the cover George Harrison’s “Love You To” was sublime; the hauntingly realistic level of three-dimensionality the Koetsu brought forth stunned me. I had the same experience with the recent Jung Trio album on Groove Note. Piano and violin were rendered with an extra fine layer of detail; I’ve never heard a more natural rendition of a violin in my system.

Like Sleeping on 1500-Thread-Count Sheets

If you’ve slept on ultra-high thread-count sheets, you know how the bedding just seems to disappear as you sink into the bed and makes it that much easier to relax. That’s what the Sky Blue does with music. The tonal gradations are so smooth, and combined with a high ability to unravel dense recordings, it’s easy to stop thinking about gear.

To achieve this experience, cue up Shriekback’s “The Reptiles and I” from Big Night Music. While the lead vocal is airy and over processed, it goes flat without a healthy dose of resolution on tap. At the same time, synthesizers and bongos float out of phase with no specific location before disappearing into the room boundaries. None of this magic was present on the digital version of the album, even when played through my dCS Paganini stack.

MoFi’s recent release of Linda Rondstadt’s Simple Dreams revealed similar results. It’s a fairly dense recording, with an incredibly wide soundstage and various instrument tracks judiciously sprinkled in the mix. For those craving “pinpoint imaging” in their stereo system, the song should satisfy even the fussiest audiophile. It’s one of those tracks where you go from hearing Ronstadt breathe at the outset before her voice swells, producing an immersive experience that will have you searching for non-existent surround-sound speakers.

Many Koetsu owners comment on the cartridges’ ability to minimize surface noise. Perhaps this is due to Koetsu’s unique stylus profile that rides the groove in a slightly different spot, yet it was definitely something I noticed with records that are known to be on the noisy side. Minimal clicks and pops seemed to possess a similar intensity, but low-level groove noise was lower overall.

Comparison and Conclusion

If the Sky Blue has a weakness, it’s the slight softening of leading transients. The cannon shots in AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) didn’t quite have the punch that they had with the Lyra Skala. Still, the slightly thin tonal balance of Bon Scott’s voice on “Night Prowler” had a little extra body, a welcome benefit. So remember: What the analog gods give, they also take away.  However, this cartridge did such a great job with everything else, I rarely gave the slight loss of ultimate dynamics a second thought. Detail fanatics may not find this shortcoming acceptable, but again, it depends on your taste, system, and recordings.  Think of the Lyra Skala (another one of my favorites) as a Stratocaster and the Koetsu Urushi Sky Blue as a Les Paul Custom. And the Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum is somewhere in between, but that’s another review.

Koetsu cartridges are usually somewhat tough to find, but Acoustic Sounds carries a larger stock than anyone in the States. If you decide you need one of these exquisite transducers, give the Kansas-based company a call sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the wait for restock may prove unbearable.  And once you get your hands on one, you’ll see why these special cartridges have such a dedicated following.  – Jeff Dorgay

The Koetsu Urushi Sky Blue Cartridge

MSRP: $4,300

www.koetsuusa.com

Yay: Luscious presentation, low surface noise, easy set up

Nay: Slight lack of ultimate dynamics

OK: Expensive, but not outrageously priced

Peripherals

The impedance and capacitance lurking in the short run of cable joining the phono cartridge to the phono preamplifier interface are important albeit often overlooked aspects. Some might argue that breaking the signal path with a connector compromises signal integrity. Yet, if there ever was a link in the audio chain that benefits from a few better strands of wire, this is it.

Analog and its associated tweaks continue to rise, yet, so do the number of users frustrated by the medium. Once the initial fever settles, that new turntable starts to feel like a slightly worn chew toy. The trinket still squeaks, but your tail doesn’t wag like it did when you tore the plaything out of the wrapper.

Relax. It’s not your fault. Audience’s Richard Colburn says the company’s inspiration for the Au24e tonearm cable came from the phono signal, “taking the cable out of the compromise is what it’s all about.” When the interface is compromised, fine detail, high-frequency response, and microdynamics get sacrificed. He also stresses that this approach should not be confused with cartridge loading, which is a “completely different issue. This is optimization for the impedance characteristic of the cartridge itself.”

A Choice of Cables

Three basic Au24e models comprise the line. The Low Z is optimized for cartridges with an internal impedance of 30 ohms or less; the High Z matches cartridges in the 30 to 100 ohms range; the MM is for 47k moving-magnet cartridges. Those using VPI turntables, or another brand with RCA jacks for the phono output, can save a few hundred bones since they don’t require a more expensive (and more labor-intensive) DIN plug. Colburn suggests opting for the lower-impedance version if your cartridge is on the fence at 30 ohms.

The 1m version of the MM version is $479 with RCAs, and $729 with DIN; the MC versions are $1,095 with RCA plugs at both ends, and $1,295 with the DIN plug. All are made by hand and hand-terminated with Audience’s latest Au24e cable, termination, and connector technology. As with all Audience cables, each is cryo-treated upon completion.

Down to Business

I’ve been enamored with the sound of the highly musical Denon DL-103R cartridge and its variants for some time. I currently use the Zu Audio version, potted in a metal body with the AVID Volvere SP turntable and SME 309 tonearm, feeding an Audio Research REF Phono 2.

It’s easy to get lost in cable comparison and freak yourself into thinking that you either hear a much bigger difference than is actually happening or, that you aren’t able to hear anything at all. The miniscule signal present from a moving-coil cartridge only compounds matters. Even listeners with canine-quality hearing can get caught up in swapping a tonearm cable in and out of a system, and there’s always the chance of knocking something out of alignment, corrupting the results. Fortunately. with another identical AVID Volvere ‘table set up on the same rack, it’s simple for me to make meaningful comparisons.

Benefits of Optimization

Switching back and forth between the two decks, the immediacy the Audience cable brings to the ‘table (pun intended) is not subtle. The layer of grain I’ve always found present in the 103 becomes greatly reduced, underscoring the Au24e’s abilities as an incredible transducer.

Vide, the quietest passages in the Egberto Gismoti/Nana Vasconcelos collaboration Duaz Vozes now possess more air and space, and it feels as if the recording studio has grown larger. Both the leading and trailing edges of the attack on Vasconcelos’ percussive excursions sound cleaner and more realistic.  An identical experience comes via “Sun Song” on the Sheffield Labs pressing of Dave Grusin’s Discovered Again.

Listening to other records I’ve spun extensively begets the same conclusion: There’s a level of cleanliness now available that wasn’t present before, and it’s easy enough to go back to the control ‘table and hear enough of a difference to justify the expense.

Remember, a great analog front end is a work in progress and always a cumulative proposition. I’ve found precious few things that are truly transformative, but every step in the right direction adds resolution without sacrificing in other areas. The Audience Au24e tonearm cable belongs in the latter category. Once I spent enough time between the two identical ‘tables to confirm the difference, I moved the cable to a few other arm/combinations with equally positive results.

While this cable is not inexpensive, at $1,100, it’s not crazy money, either. I’m keeping it as a reference in my AVID Volvere SP/Funk Firm FX•R/Denon DL103R combination; it’s that spectacular. Watch for a follow-up on the MM version in the near future.  -Jeff Dorgay

Audience Au24e Tonearm Cable

MSRP:  $479-$1,295 (depending on configuration)

Manufacturer:  www.audienceav.com

Peripherals